
Glass Vf\3Z- 

Book ..Bf-aa 



SCHOOL HISTORY 



OF 






ENGLAND. 



/BY 

A. B. B E R A R D, tf* 

AUTHOR OF " SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES." 



— '//ash\^; 



NEW YORK: 
A. S. BARNES & BURR, 51 & 53 JOHN STREET. 

SOLD BY BOOKSELLERS GENERALLY THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. 

1861. 



.- 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861 

By A. B. BERARD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 



MEARS & DUSENBERY, ELECTROTYPERS, 
PHILADELPHIA. 



bCtbX 



PREFACE. 



The design of the volume now offered to the kindly consideration 
of Parents and Teachers, is, to combine a history of the social life 
of the English people, with that of the civil and military trans- 
actions of the realm. 

A nation's religion, literature, science, art, and commerce, are 
certainly as important topics in the consideration of its history, 
as those connected with military operations and civil government. 

It is hoped, therefore, that the attention given to both these 
departments, may win for the accompanying volume, a place among 
the useful books written for the instruction of the young. 

A visit to England during the preparation of the volume, gave 
at least such increased interest in the subject of the work, as may 
add to its value, especially in the eyes of those who prize a book 
written con amore. 

In the brief account of the war in the Crimea, I would acknow- 
ledge most gratefully the assistance of a distinguished officer of 
engineers, whose information, gained by personal observation of 
the military operations in that country, is of peculiar value. 

A. B. B. 

West Point, April, 1861. 

(3) 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

ANCIENT BRITAIN,. 

—420. 
CHAPTER PAGE 

I. — THE LAND AND ITS INHABITANTS.— WARFARE— RELIGION — EDUCATION . 9-13 
II.— THE ROMAN CONQUEST.— JULIUS CESAR— CARACTACUS—BOADICEA— EX 
TENT OF THE CONQUEST— DEPARTURE OF THE ROMANS— THE BENS-FITS 
CONFERRED UPON BRITAIN BT THEIR OCCUPATION .... 13-19 

PART II. 

SAXON HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
420—1066. 

III.— THE SAXON INVASION. — CHARACTER OF THE INVADERS— REPULSE OF THE 
PICTS AND SCOTS— FOUNDATION OF THE HEPTARCHY— CONVERSION TO 
CHRISTIANITY— ENGLAND UNDER ONE SOVEREIGN— THE DANES . .20-26 

IV. — KING ALFRED THE GREAT. — HIS EARLY DAYS— CONFLICTS WITH THE 

DANES — THE BENEFICENT RULER . 26-30 

V. — ENGLAND UNDER THE DANES. — THE SUCC1 SSORS OF ALFRED — ETHELRED 

THE UNREADY— THE DANE KINGS— EDWARD THE CONFESSOR . 31-38 

VI.— THE LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS.— WILLIAM THE NORMAN AND HIS INVA- 
SION — HAROLD'S ENEMIES— BATTLE OF HASTINGS .... 38-42 
VII.— CONDITION OF ENGLAND UNDER THE SAXONS.— RELIGION — LITERATURE- 
GOVERNMENT — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS— AMUSEMENTS— LONDON IN 
6AX0N TIMES 43-49 

PART III. 

THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 

1066—1100. 
VIII. — WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. — LAST STRUGGLES OF THE SAXONS — NORMAN 

ASCENDANCY— CLOSE OF THE CONQUEROR'S LIFE 50-57 

IX. — WILLIAM RUFUS.— THE CROWN DISPUTED — TREATMENT OP THE SAXON 

RACE— THE KING'S DEATH 57-59 

X. — CHANGES EFFECTED BY THE CONQUEST. — THE FEUDAL 8YSTEM — NEW 

FOREST— DOOMSDAY BOOK— CRUSADES 59-04 

(4) 



CONTENTS. V 

PART IV. 
ENGLAND DURING THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 

1100—1199. 
CHAPTER PAGE 

XT. — HENRY I. — STEPHEN — THE BROTHER'S WAR — DOMESTIC SORROW — 
EFFORTS TO SECURE THE SUCCESSION TO MATILDA— SURNAMES — 

CIVIL WAR . 66-69 

XII.— HENRY II.— EXTENT OF HIS DOMINIONS— HIS QUARRELS WITH THE 

CHURCH— THOMAS A BECKET 69-76 

XIII.— HENRY II.— CONQUEST OF IRELAND — WARS IN FRANCE . . . 77-80 

XIV.— RICHARD I.— THE CRUSADING KINO — WARS IN FRANCE— RICHARD'S 

DEATH— WILLIAM LONGBEARD 80-86 

XV.— CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.— FEUDAL CASTLES- 
CHIVALRY AND ITS USAGES — KNIGHTHOOD — ARMOR — TOURNAMENTS 
—FEASTS— DRESS— LEARNING — ROBIN HOOD ..... 86-94 



PART V. 
ENGLAND DURING THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 
1199—1307. 
XVI.— KING JOHN.— PROVISIONS OF MAGNA CHARTA— JOHN'S WARS WITH HI8 
NEPHEW — QUARRELS WITH THE POPE — THE' GREAT CHARTER OB- 
TAINED — CIVIL STRIFE 95-101 

XVIL— HENRY m. — EARL PEMBROKE— ROYAL FAVORITES— WARS OP THE 

BARONS 102-104 

XVIII. — EDWARD I.— RETURN FROM THE HOLY LAND — CONQUEST OF WALES- 
INVASION OF SCOTLAND 105-110 

XIX.— CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.— RELIGION- 
INDUSTRY— MANNERS AND CUSTOMS— LEARNING AND LEARNED MEN 111-118 

PART VI. 

ENGLAND DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

1307—1399. 
XX.— EDWARD H.— GAVESTON— BANNOCKBURN — CIVIL DISSENSIONS— DEPO- 
SITION OF THE KING 119-123 

XXI. — EDWARD III. — OVERTHROW OF MORTIMER — CLAIM TO THE FRENCH 
CROWN— WARS IN FRANCE — CRECY— SIEGE OF CALAIS— BATTLE OF 
POICTLER8 ........... 123-131 

XXII.— RICHARD H. — WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION — MISGOVERNMENT— BOLING- 

BROKE USURPS THE CROWN 132-136 

XXlTL — CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. — RELIGION — 
LEARNING — LANGUAGE— LAW-SCHOOLS— INDUSTRY— MANNERS AND 
CUSTOMS 136-144 

PART VII. 

ENGLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, 

1399—1509. 
XXIV.— HENRY tV.— CONSPIRACIES— REBELLION— PRINCE HENRY— A ROYAL 

captive » . . t 4 4 . . 4 * 145-44S 

1* 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXV.— HENRY V.— WARS IN FRANCE— AGINCOURT— TREATY OF TROYES— 

HENRY'S DEATH 148-152 

XXVI. — HENRY VI.— THE WAR IN FRANCE— JOAN OF ARC— KING'S MARRIAGE 

AND ITS CONSEQUENCES— WARS OF THE ROSES .... 152-158 

XXVII. — EDWARD IV.— BATTLE OF TOWTON — KING'S MARRIAGE — FATAL CONSE- 
QUENCES—TRIUMPH OF LANCASTRIANS— THEIR FINAL OVERTHROW — 

THE KING'S REVENGE 158-162 

XXVIII. — EDWARD V.— RICHARD III. — RICHARD'S MACHINATIONS— THE PRINCES 
IN THE TOWER— THEIR UNCLE BECOMES KING— A RIVAL CLAIMANT— 

BOSWORTH FIELD 163-165 

XXIX. — HENRY VII. — TREATMENT OF THE HOUSE OF YORK — IMPOSTORS AND 

THEIR FATE — AVARICE OF THE KING — NEW WORLD DISCOVERED . 165-170 
XXX.— CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.— RELIGION- 
LEARNING — PRINTING — AGRICULTURE— ARCHITECTURE — DOMESTIC 
COMFORT — GREAT MERCHANTS — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS — CONDITION 
OF THE PEOPLE 170-180 

PART VIII. 
ENGLAND LURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 

1509—1603. 

XXXI.— HENRY VIII. — WARS— WOLSEY— RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN PRINCES— 

THE KING'S DIVORCE — THE cardinal's.overthrow . . . 181-188 

XXXIL— HENRY VIII.— THE UPRIGHT CHANCELLOR— OVERTHROW OF PAPAL 
POWER— ANNE BOLEYN— REFORMATION— SCOTLAND — FRANCE — THE 

HOWARDS 189-196 

XXXIII. — EDWARD VI.— THE PROTECTOR— INTRIGUES— REFORMATION— SOMER- 
SET'S DOWNFALL — NORTHUMBERLAND'S SCHEMES .... 197-201 
XXXIV.— MARY. — LADY JANE GREY— CHARACTER OF THE QUEEN— RESTORATION 
OF THE OLD RELIGION— THE QUEEN'S MARRIAGE — EVIL RESULTS — 

PROTESTANT MARTYRS— LOSS OF CALAIS 201-206 

XXXV. — ELIZABETH. — ACCESSION — POPULARITY — THE PROTESTANT RELIGION — 

MARY OF SCOTLAND ..." 206-214 

XXXVI. — ELIZABETH.— THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA— LEICESTER— ESSEX AND HIS 

ENEMIES — THE QUEEN'S DEATH 214-220 

XXXVII.— CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. — THE REFORMA- 
TION — ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH — DISSENTERS . 220-224 
XXXVIII. — CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.— LEARNING — 

PAINTING — ARCHITECTURE— COMMERCE— MANUFACTURES . . 225-231 
XXXIX. — CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. — AGRICULTURE — 
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS — AMUSEMENTS— CONDITION OF LOWER 
CLASSES — PARLIAMENT — COUR.TS OF LAW — ELIZABETH AND HER 
PEOPLE 231-238 

PART IX. 

ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

1603—1702. 

XL.— JAMES I. — CONSPIRACIES — GUNPOWDER PLOT — PREROGATIVE — THE 

KING'S TASTES— CECIL— BACON— LADY ARABELLA STUART . . 239-244 

XLL— JAMES I.— THE KING'S FAVORITE — THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH— EPISCO- 
PACY IN SCOTLAND— SIR WALTER RALEIGH— MATRIMONIAL NEGOTIA- 
TIONS ,,,,,.,, , , , , 245-249 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XLIL— CHARLES I.— PARLIAMENT— THE KING'S ADVISERS— BUCKINGHAM- 
LAUD — STRAFFORD — THE KING'S THIRD PARLIAMENT — CROMWELL — 
SHIP-MONET — EPISCOPACY IN SCOTLAND — THE KING'S DIFFICULTIES — 
LONG PARLIAMENT — STRAFFORD'S TRIAL — LAUD — IRELAND . . 249-256 

XLIIL — CHARLES I.— SEIZURE OF THE FIVE MEMBERS — THE KING'S FORCES — 
THE PARLIAMENT'S ARMY— CIVIL WAR— RELIGIOUS PARTIES— THE 
KING AND THE SCOTS — CROMWELL— THE KING'S DOWNFALL . . 257-265 

XLIV. — ENGLAND A COMMONWEALTH.— CHANGES— IRELAND— PRINCE CHARLES 

— THE DUTCH WAR 266-270 

XLV. — CROMWELL AS LORD PROTECTOR.— THE RULER AND HIS PARLIAMENT— 
THE PROTECTORSHIP — FOREIGN POLICY — THE PURITAN COURT — DO- 
MESTIC AFFLICTION— THE PROTECTOR'S DEATH— RICHARD CROMWELL 
— RESTORATION OF MONARCHY .... . . 271-274 

XLVI. — CHARLES II. — ACTS OF PARLIAMENT — THE REGICIDES — INGRATITUDE 
OF THE KING— SCOTLAND— FOREIGN RELATIONS— PLOTS AND THEIR 

CONSEQUENCES . 274-280 

XLVII. — JAMES II.— HIS DECLARATIONS— HIS CONDUCT— ARGYLE — MONMOUTH — 

CRUELTIES— JEFFRIES . 280-283 

XLTIII. — JAMES II.— EFFORTS TO RESTORE ROMANISM— THE NATION'S RESIST- 
ANCE — REVOLUTION— WILLIAM OF ORANGE ..... 283-288 
XLIX.— WILLIAM III.— SETTLEMENT OF THE CROWN— CHARACTER OF THE KING 
— RESISTANCE IN SCOTLAND — IN IRELAND — SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY — 

WILLIAM'S VICTORIES 288-293 

L.— WILLIAM III.— GLENCOE— FOREIGN WARS— DEATH OF THE QUEEN — HER 
CHARACTER— WILLIAM ABROAD— ACT OF SUCCESSION— LOUIS XIV. — 

WILLIAM'S DEATH 293-297 

LI. — CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.— RELIGION— 
THE DRAMA — POETS— MILTON— SCIENCE— ROYAL OBSERVATORY — 
GREENWICH HOSPITAL — ART— ARCHITECTURE— NEWSPAPERS— POST- 
OFFICES . . " 297-301 

III.— CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. — ROADS — 
LONDON— COMMERCE— MANUFACTURES— BANK OF ENGLAND — STYLE 
OF LIVING— CLASSES OF SOCIETY— REVENUE— WHIG AND TORY — 
NATIONAL DEBT 305-312 



PART X. 

ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

1702—1800. 

LIIL— ANNE — GEORGE I.— FOREIGN WARS— POLITICAL PARTIES—UNION — 
LITERATURE— HOUSE OF HANOVER— THE PRETENDER— SEPTENNIAL 
BILL— SOUTH SEA SCHEME ........ 313-317 

LIV. — GEORGE II. — WALPOLE'S ADMINISTRATION— FOREIGN WARS— THE YOUNG 

PRETENDER— ENGLAND AND THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR . . . 317-322 
LV. — GEORGE II.— THE ENGLISH IN INDIA— THEIR COLONIES— THE GREAT 
MOGUL — FRENCH RIVALS— CLIVE— THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA — 
PLASSEY— SUBSEQUENT VICTORIES 322-327 

LVL— GEORGE ni.— CHARACTER OF THE SOVEREIGNS— WILLIAM PITT — WAR 
WITH SPAIN— PROSECUTION OF WILKES— TAXATION OF AMERICA- 
WAR IN CONSEQUENCE— RESULT OF THE CONTEST— SIEGE OF GIB- 
RALTAR 327-335 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

LVII. — THE ENGLISH IN INDIA.— BRITISH CONQUESTS — THE RULE OF THE EAST 
INDIA COMPANY— WARREN HASTINGS — HIS CAREER IN INDIA— HIS 
IMPEACHMENT AND TRIAL IN ENGLAND — INDIA AT THE CLOSE OP 

THIS PERIOD ~ 336-341 

LVIIL— GEORGE III.— THE FRENCH REVOLUTION— ITS EFFECT UPON ENGLAND — 
WAR — VICTORIES— MUTINY IN THE FLEET— CAMPERDOWN— BATTLE 

OF THE NILE— ACRE— IRELAND — THE UNION 342-350 

LIX. — CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. — RELIGION- 
LITERATURE— DISTINGUISHED WRITERS 351-359 

LX. — CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.— THE MINIS- 
TRY—OLD AND NEW STYLE— ARCHITECTURE — PAINTING— MUSIC — 
MANUFACTURES — TRAVELLING — AGRICULTURE — COMMERCE— MAN- 
NERS AND CUSTOMS— AMUSEMENTS 359-369 

PART XI. 
ENGLAND DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

1800—1860. 

LXI. — GEORGE m.— THE ARMED 'NEUTRALITY— TRAFALGAR— PENINSULAR 

WAR— WATERLOO— WAR WITH AMERICA— BARBARY PIRATES . . 370-380 
LXII. — GEORGE IV.— TRIAL OF THE QUEEN — CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION — PAR- 
LIAMENTARY REFORM 381-386 

LXIII. — WILLIAM IV.— PARLIAMENTARY REFORM — MUNICIPAL REFORM— ABOLI- 
TION OF THE SLAVE TRADE— SLAVERY EMANCIPATION BILL — POOR 

LAWS— CRIMINAL LAW . 387-392 

LXI V.— QUEEN VICTORIA.— THE QUEEN— CHARTISTS— CORN LAW— REPEAL AGI- 
TATION—FATHER MATHEW— MAYNOOTH COLLEGE— FAMINE— INSUR- 
RECTION 393-400 

LXV. — VICTORIA.— THE CHARTIST REBELLION— FOREIGN RELATIONS— TROUBLES 

IN TURKEY— MILITARY OPERATIONS 401-406 

LXVI. — VICTORIA.— ENGLISH TROOPS IN THE CRIMEA— ALMA— SIEGE OF SEBAS- 

TOPOL— FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE ... ... 406-415 

LXVII. — ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. — BIBLE SOCIETY — MISSIONARY 
EFFORT— BENEVOLENCE— LITERATURE— MATERIAL PROGRESS — CRYB- 
TAL PALACE . ..... ... 416-422 

PART XII. 
COLONIAL. 

1801—1860. 
LXVIII. — INDIA.— MAHRATTA WARS— BURMESE WARS— THE AFGHAN INVASION 

AND DISASTER 423-432 

LXIX. — INDIA.— WAR WITH SINDE — GWALIOR— SIKH CONFEDERACY— BURMESE 

WAR — ANNEXATION OF OUDE — THE INDIAN MUTINY . . . 432-444 
LXX. — THE ENGLISH IN CHINA. — EMBASSIES TO CHINA— COMMERCIAL RELA- 
TIONS—WAR OF 1842 445-448 

LXXI. — AUSTRALIA— NEW ZEALAND— CAPE COLONY ...... 449-452 

LXXII.— CANADA.— EARLY HISTORY — POLITICAL DISCONTENTS— REBELLION — 

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY— CONCLUSION 453-455 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



PART I. 

ANCIENT BRITAIN. 
— A. D. 420. 

" From Tan, a country, and Breit, tin, 
The name of Britain came, 
And only as the Land of Tin, 
Was it first known to fame." 

Hannah Townsend. 



CHAPTER I. 

BRITAIN BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 

In the Atlantic Ocean, somewhat to the north-west of the 
mainland of Europe, lies the island of Great Britain. It is 
small compared with the other natural divisions of the earth, 
and yet this little sea-girt isle is the centre of an empire so 
vast, that the Englishman may proudly repeat the boast once 
uttered by the Spaniard, " that on the dominions of his sove- 
reign the sun never sets/' 

We know but little about this island in very early times. 
The first inhabitants of whom we have any certain knowledge 
were of the Celtic race, and were in a rude and barbarous 
condition. At first, their island was called Albion, which 
means " The White Isle/' but afterwards it was better known 

(9) 



10 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

by the name of Britannia, which probably meant " The Land 
of Tin." In the days when old Tyre and Sidon 

B.C. 1000. . . J J 

were in all their glory, their mariners made bolder 
voyages than any other people. Their merchant vessels passed 
beyond the Pillars of Hercules (for so the ancients named the 
straits of Gibraltar) into the stormy Atlantic. They even 
went to Britain, and traded with the natives for lead and tin. 
The ancients mixed tin with copper, forming a metal called 
brass, but which in truth, was more properly bronze. Perhaps 
the brazen sea and vessels " of bright brass," wrought by 
Tyrian workmen for King Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem, 
were made in part of British tin. 

Britain was a cold country, and the people, excepting those 
on the southern coast, knew very little about cultivating the 
ground. They lived upon the milk and flesh of their flocks 
and herds, or upon wild fruits. They had no towns. A 
Roman geographer says : " the forests of the Britons are their 
cities ; for when they have enclosed a very large space with 
felled trees, they build within it, houses for themselves and 
hovels for their cattle." Their collection of wicker-work 
canister-shaped cottages, looked very much like the Kraals or 
Hottentot villages of the present day. 

The savage Britons in the middle of the island wore very 
little clothing. They tattooed their skins, somewhat in the 
manner of the South Sea. islanders, and painted them with 
woad, a plant which yields juice of a blue color. The more 
civilized people of the coast wore trousers and tunics made 
of chequered cloth, of various colors, the chief and favorite 
stripe being red. This dress resembled the tartan-plaid of 
the Highlanders. Over their garments they wore chains, 
and collars or necklaces called torques, also bracelets and 
rings, made of gold, silver, or brass. 

These ornaments,, as also their dyed cloth, prove that the 
southern Britons knew something of manufactures. They 
made metal rings which they used for money, and drinking- 
vessels and urns of coarse earthenware. 

The Britons were divided into numerous petty tribes, and 



BRITAIN BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 11 

as these were nearly always fighting with each other, the art of 
war therefore was better known among them than any other. 
Their weapons were broadswords and spears. At the end of 
the spear was sometimes fixed a hollow ball filled with pieces 
of metal, which making a rattling noise when thrown, would 
frighten the horses of an enemy. 

The most formidable instrument of war among the Britons 
was the armed chariot. This was a kind of car, breast-high 
in front and open behind, sometimes of rude structure, and 
sometimes curiously and beautifully wrought. To the axle- 
trees of this car, were fastened scythes and hooks. The 
chariot was drawn by horses so well trained, that although 
urged at speed over the roughest country, they could be 
stopped instantly at the voice of the driver. These chariots, 
filled with warrior Britons, driven into the midst of the battle, 
cutting and tearing all before them, spread the greatest terror 
through the ranks of their enemies. The shields of the Bri- 
tons were made of basket-work covered with hides and coated 
with metal. Their little walnut-shaped boats, called coracles, 
were also made of twigs of osier covered with skins. 

The religion of the Britons, called Druidism, was a strange 
and cruel superstition. They worshipped the sun, the moon, 
the serpent, and many of the Greek and Roman divinities. 
Their priests were called Druids, and besides being the minis- 
ters of religion, they were the judges of the people, and the 
instructors of the youth. It was thought that the greater the 
number of the Druids, the greater would be the prosperity of 
the country. They became, consequently, a very large and 
powerful class. They worshipped in groves of oak watered by 
fountains or running streams, which were regarded as sacred. 

"Within these groves a circular row of huge upright stones 
enclosed an open space, in the centre of which was the Crom- 
lech, an altar consisting of a large flat stone laid horizontally 
upon others. The most remarkable of these Druidical relics 
now found in Great Britain, are those at Stonehenge in Wilt- 
shire, and the curious cromlech known as Kits Coty House, 
near Aylesford in Kent. 



12 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

The Druids taught the people to believe that God loved the 
oak more than all other trees of the wood, and that whatever 
was found growing upon it came from heaven. Especially, 
they looked upon as sacred the mistletoe plant, whenever its 
white berries were found clustering upon the gnarled branches 
of this monarch of the wood. The great festival for seeking 
the mistletoe of the oak was on the sixth day of the moon 
nearest to the 10th of March ; — the^ Druidical New Year's 
day. When they were so fortunate as to find it, a procession 
with great pomp and ceremony advanced to the sacred tree. 
A white-robed Druid climbed the oak, and cut with a gold 
knife the mistletoe bough, which was caught as it fell in the 
white garment of another Druid. Then followed festive rites 
and rejoicings. In the sacrifices of the Druids, human victims 
frequently suffered. Instances are recorded of men and ani- 
mals thrown together into a huge wicker-work cage, and 
burned in offerings to the false gods of this cruel religion. 

Besides the festival above mentioned, there were three other 
important holydays observed by the Druids : — May-Day, Mid- 
summer Eve, and the last day of October. In their worship 
of the Sun and Moon was included the adoration of fire. On 
May-Day Eve, fires were lighted and sacrifices offered to obtain 
a blessing on the newly-sown fields. And when, at Mid- 
summer, the fruits of the earth were becoming ready for the 
gathering, and on All Hallow's Eve, when the harvest was 
ended, night-fires blazing on moor and mountain, marked the 
celebration of each Druid festival. 

The religion of these Pagans has long since passed away, and 
yet, says an English writer, many traces of their old superstition 
still linger in the popular sports and pastimes of the people. 
" The ceremonies of All Hallowmas, the bonfires of May-Day 
and Midsummer Eve, the virtues attributed to the mistletoe, 
and various other customs of the village and country-side, still 
speak to us of the days of Druidism, and evince that the impres- 
sion of its grim ritual has not been wholly obliterated from the 
popular imagination by the lapse of nearly twenty centuries." 

The Druids ^were the teachers of the British youth, who 



BRITAIN BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 10 

resorted to them in the depths of the dark forests, and in some 
instances remained under a course of instruction for twenty 
years. One part of their education, was the learning of a 
great number of verses by heart, for they were not allowed to 
commit their knowledge to writing. They were taught astro- 
nomy, and must have been well skilled in mechanics, to have 
reared those ponderous stones and huge cromlechs, the mere 
ruins and remains of which, as seen at Stonehenge and other 
places, fill us with astonishment. They were taught the arts 
of eloquence and poetry, and the British bards remained a 
favored and venerated class long after the rest of their country- 
men had been subdued or driven from the land. < 

Questions. — To what ancient maritime people do we owe our 
earliest knowledge of Britain ? — For what purpose did they visit the 
island? — Relate what is told Of the dwellings and mode of life of the 
early inhabitants. — Describe the war-chariots of the Britons. 

Name their religion and the objects of its worship. — What offices 
did the Druids hold besides that of priests ? — Describe some of the 
Druidical remains still found in Great Britain. — What tree was held 
in veneration ? — Under what circumstances was the mistletoe re- 
garded as sacred? — Describe the ceremony of gathering it. — What is 
told of the sacrifices of this religion ? — Give some account of the 
education of British youth. — What arts and sciences were probably 
familiar to the early Britons ? 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ROxMAN CONQUEST 



Such was the island of Britain and its people, about half a 
century before the birth of our Saviour. Then the 

B» C 55. 

Romans were a powerful nation, and had spread 

the terror of their arms into the countries lying to the north 

of Italy. Julius Caesar, one of their most famous generals, 

had subdued the Gauls (a people occupying the country now 

2 



14 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

called France), and in the year 55 b. c, stood upon the south- 
ern shore of the English Channel. Looking across the narrow 
straits on the white cliffs of Dover, he coveted the island of 
Britain for conquest. 

Caesar accused the Britons of having helped the Gauls to 
fight against him, but the real motive of his intended expedi- 
tion was probably a desire to carry his arms into a new 
country j and in the summer, or early autumn of the above- 
mentioned year, Julius Caesar, with a fleet of eighty vessels, 
and an army of twelve thousand men, crossed the channel. 

On approaching the cliffs of Dover, the Romans saw them 
covered with fierce armed Britons. Caesar, finding it impos- 
sible to land in the face of the bold rocks and bolder enemy, 
gave orders to sail further along the coast, to a place where 
the shore was less abrupt. The Britons, with their war- 
chariots and horses, flew to the spot, determined if possible to 
prevent his landing anywhere. The Roman fleet proceeded 
to Deal, and there Caesar prepared to disembark his troops. 

The water was very deep, and the fierce enemy was on the 
shore. The soldiers began to falter, when a standard bearer, 
holding aloft the Roman eagle, and praying solemnly to the 
gods of his country, to make what he was' about to do prove 
fortunate for Rome, plunged into the sea, exclaiming, " Follow 
me, my fellow-soldiers, unless you will give up your eagle to 
the enemy ! I at least will do my duty to Caesar and to the 
Republic !" This deed of daring emboldened the hesitating 
legions. Leaping into the sea, they effected a Janding, and 
after a sharp conflict drove the Britons from the beach. The 
latter promised submission, but a severe storm having destroyed 
the Roman ships, the Britons soon broke into rebellion. They 
were again defeated, and sued for peace, which was granted to 
them on very easy terms ; for the Romans, having repaired a 
few vessels of their disabled fleet, were anxious, as winter 
approached, to return to Gaul. 

The next year Caesar came again to Britain. The 

islanders united under a brave chief, Caswallon, and 

did their utmost to defend their country. Several battles 



THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 15 

were fought, but the Romans did not penetrate far, and before 
the end of the year 54 b. c. Caesar again made peace with the 
islanders and returned to Gaul, having discovered rather than 
conquered Britain. 

After the departure of Julius Caesar, Britain was left in 
peace; that is, there was no enemy from abroad, but the 
savage tribes were at war very often among themselves. At 

length, when nearly one hundred years had gone by, 

in the year of our Lord 43, Roman legions, under 
Aulus Plautius, again entered Britain. Many battles were 
fought, and the Roman emperor himself came to the island to 
make sure of its* conquest; yet but a small strip of country was 
subdued, and even this was overrun by hostile Britons as 
soon as the Roman general had withdrawn his troops. The 
Britons, united under their chief Caradoc or Caractacus, for 

nine years strove to drive the invaders from the 
ad. 43 island. Many fierce conflicts occurred. On a hill 
a.d. 52. * n Shropshire, still linger the ruins of Caer-Caradoc, 

the scene, it is said, of Caractacus' last battle. It 
was bravely contested, but the numbers and discipline of the 
Romans won the day. Caractacus was treacherously delivered 
into the hands of his enemies, and carried in chains to the 
imperial city. There, standing before Caesar's judgment-seat, 
his noble spirit shone forth. His wife and children, awed by 
the presence of the emperor, pleaded for mercy. Caractacus 
rebuked with calm dignity the proud and wicked ambition 
of his conquerors. " Why," said he, looking at the splendor 
which surrounded him, "why should you, possessed of so 
much magnificence at home, euvy n*e an humble cottage in 
Britain !" 

So noble a spirit on the part of a captive touched the heart 
of the Roman emperor. He caused his chains, as well as 
those of his wife and children, to be struck off. Whether his 
'captors ever had the generosity to restore Caractacus to his 
native land, historians have not told us. It is said that the 
" Claudia" whom St. Paul mentions in his Second Epistle to 
Timothy, was a daughter of Caractacus, and was converted to 



16 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Christianity through the influence of the wife of the Roman 
general, Aulus Plautius. 

The contest was still kept up in Britain, and many brave 

Roman armies were sent thither. Between the years 59 and 

61 A.D. Suetonius Paulinus invaded the island of 

59 to 61. 

Anglesey (then called Mona), which was the chief 
resort of the Druids, and a place of refuge for the British 
warriors. The Britons did their utmost to defend this sacred 
island : armed men crowded the beach ; women with streaming 
hair and flaming torches and piercing cries ran in among them, 
whilst Druids with lifted hands and frantic gestures uttered 
curses on the daring invaders. It was all in vain. The 
Romans, in flat-bottomed boats crossed the Menai Straits, 
burned the Druids in the very fires they had kindled for their 
enemies, and cut down the sacred groves. 

While Suetonius was engaged in this expedition, the eastern 

Britons had risen against the Romans. Boadicea, 

A.D. 61. . ° . ' 

Queen of the Iceni, one of these tribes, roused by 
cruel wrongs which had been done to herself and her daughters, 
flew to arms. Her countrymen flocked to her standard. Soon 
a Roman colony was laid in ashes, and London (city of ships), 
then a small but prosperous trading town, was plundered and 
its inhabitants put to death. Other colonies were attacked, 
and seventy, thousand victims fell a sacrifice to British ven- 
geance. Suetonius, at the first intelligence of this rising, 
hurried from the west, and soon Queen Boadicea met her foes 
in battle. Mounted in her war-chariot, her long yellow hair 
streaming in the wind, she exhorted her followers to avenge 
her wrongs and those of their country. But her efforts and 
her heroism were of no avail. The Britons were defeated, 
and their unhappy queen put an end to her life by swallowing 
poison. 

From a.d. 78 to A. D. 84 the Roman general 

78 & 79. ... 

Agricola commanded in Britain. He taught the 
people many of the arts of civilization ; induced them to for- 
sake their rude huts and build comfortable houses, and taught 
their youth the language of Rome. He carried the Roman 



THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 17 

arms further north than any other general had done, display- 
ing the victorious eagle at the foot of the Grampian Hills. 
Here he met the Caledonians ; a people whom he never con- 
quered, although he fought many battles with them. Agricola 
sent some of his ships around the northern capes of Scotland 
and down the western coast to Land's End, thereby making 
the first certain discovery to the Romans that Britain was an 
island. The southern part of Britain had now 

A.D. 80. r 

almost entirely submitted, but the Caledonians were 

constantly attacking the chain of forts and entrenchments 

which Agricola had constructed across the northern part of 

the country, from the river Clyde to the Frith of Forth. 

Many generals marched into Scotland, and two emperors, 

Hadrian and Severus, after in vain trying to 

conquer these fierce people, built ramparts and 

A.D. 30 8. walls as a defence against them. The wall of 

Severus, extending from the Solway to the Tyne, 

was built of stone, and strengthened at frequent intervals by 

castles and turrets, which during the Boman occupation were 

garrisoned with soldiers. This rampart served to keep back 

the barbarians, and for nearly seventy years after its erection, 

Boman Britain enjoyed peace. The son of Severus granted 

the Britons the privileges of Boman citizenship. 

During the fourth century the Picts, a tribe of Caledonians, 
and the Scots, a people who had come from Ireland, rushing 
like birds of prey from the mountain fastnesses of Scotland, 
broke over the wall of Severus, laid waste the country beyond, 
and even advanced into the southern provinces of Britain. 

The Bomans drove them back as long as they 

367 to 420. ° . J 

could, but the power of Borne was fast declining. 
Barbarians from the forests of Grermany and Hungary were 
pouring down upon G-aul, Spain, Italy, and other provinces of 
her vast empire. She had need of all her armies for the 
defence of the imperial city. In A.D. 420, nearly five hundred 
years after the first landing of Caesar, every Boman legion was 
withdrawn, and the conquerors took their final departure from 
Britain. 

2* B 



18 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

During the live centuries of their occupation, the Romans 
had done much to improve the island, and to better the con- 
dition of the people. They had erected fine broad paved 
highways throughout the country ; so solid and so well laid, 
that remains of them are to be seen at the present day. 
Towns were built, and the mud or wooden cottages of the early 
Britons gave place to houses of brick and stone. The ground 
was better cultivated, and grain became a plentiful article of 
export. Long before the Romans came to the island, a trade 
in tin had been carried on with distant nations, but now the 
mines were better worked and greater quantities exported. 
Oysters were sent to Rome from the shores of Britain, and 
were esteemed an article of luxury. Pearls too from the 
same coasts acquired celebrity; Caesar is said to have hung up 
in the temple of a heathen goddess at Rome, a shield studded 
with British pearls. Agricola, who was father-in-law to 
Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, founded schools, to 
which the British youth were sent for instruction in the 
language and literature of Rome. 

But the greatest benefit bestowed upon Britain by her con- 
querors was the introduction of Christianity. When the 
Romans first came, they were themselves pagans, for it was 
half a century before the birth of our Saviour. When they 
had broken down the altars of the Druids, they too built 
shrines, to a milder, perhaps, but still to a false religion. To 
Jupiter, Apollo, Venus, and Diana were temples erected, and 
in various parts of London, statues and images of the gods of 
his country, arrested the eye and claimed the worship of the 
Roman soldier. By degrees, as the religion of the Saviour 
spread, Romans became converted, and among the armies who 
entered Britain there were no doubt Christian soldiers. As 
early as the year of our Lord 209 a Christian writer says : 
" Even the places in Britain hitherto inaccessible to Roman 
arms, have been subdued by the gospel of Christ !" 

When the heathen emperors persecuted Christianity 
throughout all the empire, British Christians suffered also, and 
the first martyr of the faith in this island was St. Alban, who 



THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 19 

was put to death, a.d. 286, during the great persecution of the 
emperor Dioclesian. In the year 314, three British bishops 
were sent into Gaul to attend there a Christian council — by 
which we know that Christianity must have been pretty well 
established in Britain at that time. 

The testimony of one of the early Christian Fathers, 
Clement of Rome, renders it extremely probable that St. Paul 
himself visited Britain. But, though we have no certain 
knowledge respecting the missionaries who first carried thither 
the blessed gospel of God, let our hearts ascend in thankful- 
ness to Him who at this early date permitted its glorious light 
to dispel the darkness which for so many centuries had brooded 
over the country. 

Well may the poet exclaim : 

" He brought thy land a blessing when he came, 
He found thee savage and he left thee tame." 

Questions. — What is said of the Roman conquests in the first 
century before the Christian era ? — When and by whom were the 
Roman arms first carried into Britain ? — Relate the efforts of the 
Britons to prevent this invasion. — Repeat briefly the account of Cae- 
sar's campaigns in Britain. 

When and under what general was the island again invaded by 
the Romans ? — Describe the resistance of the Britons, and the con- 
duct of Caractacus. — When, and by whom, was Anglesey attacked ? — 
By whom was the island defended? — With what result? — Relate the 
history of Boadicea. 

What benefits were conferred on the Britons by Agricola ? — How 
far did he extend his invasion ? — What discovery was made by his 
mariners ? — Mention the several walls and fortifications built across 
the northern pa*t of Britain. — What tribes broke through the wall 
of Severus, and when? — Why could the Romans no longer defend 
Britain? — When did they take their final departure? 

What had been the effect of the Roman occupation upon the island? 
— Mention the principal improvements effected by the Romans ? — 
What British products were highly esteemed in Rome ? — What reli- 
gion was first brought into the island by the armies of Rome ? — What 
faith was subsequently introduced ? — Name the first British Christian 
martyr. — What proof have we of the early establishment of a Christian 
Church in Britain ? 



20 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



PAKT II. 
SAXON HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

AD. 420—1066. 

" They came and fought the Scots and Picts, 
But conquered Britain, too ; 
From Angle, a famed Saxon tribe, 
The name of England grew." 

Hannah Townsend. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SAXON INVASION. 

CHARACTER OF THE INVADERS — REPULSE OP THE PICTS AND SCOTS — POUN« 
DATION OP THE HEPTARCHY — CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY — ENGLAND 
UNDER ONE SOVEREIGN — THE DANES. 

When the Roman legions took their departure 

4:20 to 449. ' . .-.•iit ip.,1 

Britain was indeed abandoned; for with the armies 
that left her shores sailed the flower of the British youth, and 
for many years the valor of Britain, instead of being employed 
at home, was enlisted elsewhere against the enemies of the 
Roman empire. Meanwhile the Picts and Scots, breaking 
over the wall of Severus, or passing round it in their little 
coracles, ravaged the land, and bid fair to destroy every trace 
of civilization which the Romans had left. 

The disheartened Britons refused to sow the fields 

4:4,-1. 

which they knew an enemy would reap, and famine 
and pestilence spread over the land. In the depths of their 
distress an appeal, called " The Groans of the Britons," was 
made to the Romans. " The barbarians," say they, " chase 
us into the sea ; the sea throws us back upon the barbarians ; 
and we have only the hard choice left, us of perishing by the 



THE SAXON INVASION. 21 

sword or by the waves. " But Attila the Hun, an enemy so 
terrible as to be called " the scourge of God/' was thundering 
at the gates of the imperial city, and the prayer of a distant 
province was raised in vain. 

In the year 449 the ships of two Saxon brothers 
were riding in the English Channel. Their standards 
bore the figure of a horse, and from two words, both of which 
are in the Saxon language names for that animal, these bro- 
thers were called Hengist and Horsa. 

On board the Saxon ships there were perhaps three tribes ; 
the Jutes, the Angles, and the Saxons. They all sprang 
from the same race of Scandinavian pirates which age after 
age left the shores of the Baltic and North Seas, and were 
known in successive centuries as Saxons, Danes, and North- 
men or Normans. The Jutes, Angles, and Saxons came 
principally from Denmark, and the country lying to the south 
and west of that peninsula. 

They were a fierce race, claiming to be descended from Odin 
or Woden, a great warrior king whom they worshipped as a 
god. The religion of these Northmen was what we might 
expect of such a people. Their Heaven, or Valhalla, as they 
called it, was a realm of warriors whose days were passed in 
fighting, and whose nights were spent in carousals, in which 
they ate the flesh of a huge boar, and drank great draughts of 
mead from cups formed of the skulls of their enemies. Woden, 
their god of battles, was represented by an image, armed, 
crowned, and brandishing a drawn sword. Thor, the god of 
tempests, of thunder and lightning, held a mace, sometimes 
called " Thor's mighty hammer." 

The Saxons and their descendants have now learned of a 
holier religion and a purer heaven, but their heathen divinities 
still give name to those days of the week, which in the old 
pagan times were especially consecrated to their worship. 
Thus, though so many centuries have gone by, Woden is still 
remembered in our Wednes or Woden's day, Thor in our 
Thor's or Thursday, and from Frea, the wife of Odin, is named 
our Friday. 



22 1UJ3T0R1 Oh' EM GLAND. 

These tribes delighted in war. Their weapons, spears, 
swords, and battle-axes, made of steel, were always kept 
bright and sharp and ready for -use. They were bold mari- 
ners and defied the fierce tempest, making themselves the 
terror of the seas. 

" The Norsemen, trained to spoil and blood, 
Skilled to prepare the raven's food ; 
Kings of the main, their leaders brave, 
Their barks the dragons of the wave." 

Such were the men who, from their war-ships in the 
English Channel, were invited by Vortigern, a British prince, 
to land and defend his dominions from the Picts and Scots. 
The Saxons gladly accepted a proposal so suited to their 
tastes, and the Isle of Thanet, now a portion of Kent, was 
given them for a residence. Soon they met the Picts and 
Scots in battle, defeated and drove them back to their moun- 
tain fastnesses. 

At a feast given by Hengist to his British host, Kowena, 
the fair daughter of the Saxon warrior, knelt, and, presenting 
to Yortigern a golden goblet of wine, said in Saxon words, 
" Dear king, thy health/' Her grace and beauty so won 
the heart of Yortigern that he asked her in marriage. She 
became his wife, and her influence with her husband brought 
numbers of her countrymen to the shores of Britain. 

The new comers, after driving the Picts and Scots beyond 
the wall of Severus, aided by kindred tribes, 

449 to 600. \ \ ' 

Jutes, Saxons, and Angles, who came pouring 
into the island, turned upon the defenceless people whom they 
had been invited to protect. Despite the fabled prowess 
of King Arthur and his knights, and the bravery of many 
valorous Britons, who for nearly two hundred years kept up 
the struggle, at the end of that period the Saxon triumphed. 
The Britons were driven into other countries, or sought refuge 
amid the wilds of Cornwall or the mountains of Wales. There 
they remained for six hundred years the enemies of the 
Saxons, sometimes rushing down to lay waste their lands, then 



THE SAXON INVASION. 23 

defeated and driven back to their mountains, but ever to the 
Saxon an unconquered, unconquerable foe. 

At the end of two hundred years from the landing of Hen- 
gist and Horsa, the Saxons had founded in the conquered 
island, seven states, called the Saxon Heptarchy : 1. Kent, 
founded by the son of Hengist; 2. Sussex, or the kingdom 
of the South-Saxons; 3. Wessex, or that of the West-Saxons 5 
4. Essex, the possession of the East-Saxons; 5. East Anglia, 
conquered by the Angles, North-folk and South-folk, which 
still give the name to two English shires ; 6. Northumbria, or 
the country of the people north of the Humber ; 7. Mercia, or 
the woodland kingdom, which was but partially conquered by 
the Saxons. 

The most interesting event in the history of the Heptarchy 
is the conversion of the pagan Saxons to Christianity. When 
the fierce worshippers of Odin and Thor entered Britain, the 
religion of the Cross was driven from the land, or sought 
refuge with the conquered people in the mountains of Wales, 
and in later days amid the rocky islands of the Hebrides. 
The churches of God were despoiled, and altars to Odin and 
Thor arose in their stead. For a hundred and 

4r49to59T. 

fifty years, Paganism reigned triumphant. But 
in the providence of Him who delighteth to bring good out 
of evil, the cruel custom which the Saxons practised of selling 
their children for slaves, was made the means of introducing 
the blessings of Christianity into Britain. 

In the public market-place of Rome some children were 
exposed for sale. Gregory, a Roman prior, struck by their 
bright complexions, fair hair, and beautiful forms, asked 
whence they came. " They are Angles," was the reply. 
" Angles V* he exclaimed, " they would be angels rather, if 
they were but Christians." The benevolent interest of the 
good prior did not end with this witticism ; for a few years 
afterwards, when he became pope, he sent Augustin, with 
forty other monks, to preach the gospel to the Anglo-Saxons. 
597> This was in the year of our Lord 597. A few years 
before, one of the kings of the Heptarchy, Ethelbert 



24 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

/ 

of Kent, had married Bertha, a Christian princess of France. 
He was therefore kindly disposed towards the missionaries, but 
the pagan priests, who attributed the influence of the Christians 
to magic, persuaded the king to receive them in the open air, for 
they believed that he would be safer from their incantations 
there, than under a roof. A ruined British Christian church, 
St. Martin's without the walls of Canterbury, was appropriated 
to their use, and in a few months King Ethelbert received 
Christian baptism. Soon ten thousand of his subjects followed 
his example. This cheering news so rejoiced the heart of 
Pope Gregory, that he made Augustin Primate or Archbishop 
of all England, and appointed Canterbury his Episcopal See. 

You will remember that upon the invasion of the Saxons, 
the Christian church of Britain had sought refuge amid the 
mountains of Wales. The new primate now endeavored to 
secure the alliance and co-operation of these British Christians 
for the conversion of the pagan Saxons. Unfortunately his 
application, coupled with the demand that they should acknow- 
ledge the supremacy of the Pope, awakened the opposition 
of the Welsh ecclesiastics. Other grounds of difference also 
existed between the parties. 

Perhaps, too, the Welsh priests were not a little jealous of 
the success of their Italian brethren. The zeal of Augustin 
and his followers certainly put to shame the lukewarmness of 
the British Christians. Seven bishops and an abbot received 
at Bangor the demands of the Roman primate, to all of which 
they returned a positive refusal. This rejection of his over- 
tures roused the anger of Augustin, and, assuming the gift of 
prophecy, he declared, that, because they would not aid in the 
conversion of the Saxons, by the swords of the Saxons they 
should perish. A few years after the death of the primate, this 
• fatal prophecy met its fulfilment at the hands of a Northum- 
brian king who ordered the slaughter of the monks of Bangor. 

Other states of the Heptarchy soon followed the example of 
Kent. About A. D. 604 Sebert, the once pagan king of Essex, 
built in London a little Christian church, on the spot where 
once stood a temple of Diana, and where now rises the noble 



THE SAXON INVASION. 25 

Cathedral Church of St. Paul's. In less than ninety years 
from the first coming of St. Augustin and his forty monks, 
nearly the whole of the Saxon Heptarchy had been converted 
to Christianity. Churches and monasteries arose in every 
part of the island. For many years the greater number of the 
priests and monks came from abroad, especially from Rome, 
and there were eight Roman Archbishops of Canterbury 
before a Saxon obtained that dignity. 

In the year 825, after nearly four centuries of wars 
among the different states of the Heptarchy, they were 
all united under Egbert, king of Wessex, and henceforth are 
known as one kingdom, called Angle-land or England. 

Scarcely was England united under one sovereign 
before she became the prey of an invasion more savage, 
if possible, than the Saxon had been. The English were now 
made to suffer all the miseries which their forefathers had 
inflicted upon the Britons, and that too, from a race kindred 
with themselves. 

The pirates who invaded Britain in the fifth century were 
called Saxons : those who now came into England in the ninth 
century were called Danes. They were, however, of the same 
Scandinavian race. 

During these four hundred years, from the fifth to the 
ninth century, the Anglo-Saxons had embraced Christianity, 
and, entirely abandoning their habits of sea-roving, had become 
in some degree a civilized people. 

Not so with their fierce and pagan brethren on the other 
side of the German Ocean. They had grown bolder and 
stronger ; their wealth and their boast was in their war-ships. 
They gloried in the titles of Vikinger and Sea-King. They 
chose for their emblems the fiercest of birds and beasts of prey. 
The raven was embroidered on their banners, and the dragon 
gave shape to their vessels. They had long been the terror 
of the sea-coast of Europe, and you may be sure a fiercer set 
of pirates never turned their prows towards England than 
the Danish sea-kings of the ninth century. 

Great indeed were the calamities which these Northmen 
3 



26 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

spread throughout England for the space of forty years, 

during the reigns of Egbert, his son, and his three grandsons. 

Churches, convents, and dwellings were burned, and the land 

was plundered and wasted. At first the Danes were 
871. ^ 

only summer marauders, and when autumn came they 

sailed away. But by the year 871 they had conquered 

Northumbria, established a capital at York, and for seven 

long years had wintered in the land. 

Questions. — To what evils were the Britons exposed on the de- 
parture of the Romans ? — Repeat their appeal for protection. — Why- 
was it not successful ? 

Of what race were the Saxons, Jutes, and Angles ? — Repeat the 
names by which this race was known at different periods. — What is 
related of their character and religion ? — Mention some of the fami- 
liar names derived from those of their divinities. — What is told of 
their preparations for war? — Relate the circumstances which brought 
them into Britain. — What was their conduct in that country ? — How 
long did the Britons resist the invaders? — What was the final result? 

Name the several kingdoms of the Heptarchy. — Relate the circum- 
stances which led to the introduction of Christianity into Britain. — 
By whom and in what kingdom was Christianity first established ? — 
When, and under what name, did the Saxon Heptarchy become 
united ? 

Of what race were the Danes ? — Describe their character and 
habits. ■ — When did they first invade England ? — What evils did they 
inflict for the space of forty years? — During whose reigns were these 
ravages committed ? — What was the condition of England in the 
year 871 ? 



CHAPTER IV 

KING ALFRED THE GREAT. 

HIS EARLY DAYS — CONFLICTS WITH THE DANES — THE BENEFICENT RULER. 

" When the tale of bricks is doubled, Moses comes," says 
the Jewish proverb ; and now when the bondage of the Saxons 
was heaviest, Grod raised up for them a deliverer. 



KING ALFRED THE GREAT. 27 

In the year 871 the crown of England rested upon a young 
prince of twenty-three, — the youngest of four brothers, but 
one whose wisdom and valor fitted him to be the defender of 
his country. This prince was Alfred, most justly surnamed 
the Great. From early childhood he had given promise of 
future greatness. When only eight years old he went with 
his father, King Ethel wulf, on a pilgrimage to Rome. 

Rome, the queen city of the world, had lost much of her 
ancient splendor. The barbarian had paced her streets and 
despoiled her glory. Yet in Alfred's time, her beautiful 
Coliseum, her noble Capitol, her Amphitheatre, her palaces 
and columns and gateways, were far more perfect than they 
are at the present day. Child though he was, the splendor 
of the papal court and of the imperial city made a deep 
impression on his mind, as he contrasted it with the almost 
barbarous rudeness of his own land. 

In those days the Bishop of Rome had taken the 
title of Pope [Papa], and claimed to be the head of the 
Christian world. With his own hand he poured the sacred 
oil upon the head of the child Alfred, thus anointing him the 
future king of England. The pope performed this ceremony 
in imitation of the ancient custom of the Jewish law. And 
surely since the days when the High Priest Samuel anointed 
the young David king over Israel, never was there a better 
prince set apart by the anointing oil than Alfred of England. 
One day, after his return to his own country, his mother, 
Osburgha, was reading to her children a Saxon poem, from one 
of the illuminated or richly painted books of that day. The 
boys admired the book. " I will give it," said the mother, 
"to him among you who shall first learn to read it." The 
elder brothers gave up the prize which was to be won at such 
a cost, but Alfred sought a teacher, learned to read Anglo- 
Saxon, and was rewarded with the book. 

Years had passed by since the anointing oil had been 

poured by the pope upon Alfred's head. He had seen his 

three brothers in quick succession mount the throne, 

and now they were all dead, and the kingdom had fallen 



28 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

to him. The Danes had made it a legacy little to be coveted, 
for, with the exception of the kingdom of Wessex, they were 
the real masters of England. 

One of Alfred's first acts was to build a few vessels. With 
these, the daring pirates were met on the sea, and in two naval 
battles the English triumphed. The Danes, however, were 
not disheartened : they came in still greater numbers, and 
after many battles, King Alfred was obliged to flee. 

He sought refuge in a lonely spot in Somersetshire, 
known still as Athelney, or Prince's Island. One day, 
whilst lodging in the cottage of a peasant, he was told to watch 
some oaten bread which the wife of the peasant was baking on 
the hearth. The king, whose sad heart was dwelling on the 
troubles of his realm, forgot his trust. When the woman 
came in, and found her loaves burning, she scolded well the 
negligent stranger, exclaiming, " You man ! you will not turn 
the bread you see burning, but you will be glad enough to eat 
it." Little thought the good woman that she was scolding 
her king. 

Alfred remained but a few months in his retreat at Athel- 
ney. Disguising himself as a minstrel or gleeman, in that 
ever-welcome character he entered the Danish camp. Whilst 
amusing the chiefs with song and story, he observed their 
numbers and noted their idle security. 

He then returned to his followers, and gathering around 
him at his trysting-place in Selwood Forest a band of true- 
hearted men, he met the Danes at Ethandune, on the banks 
of the river Avon, and gained a complete victory. 

The Danes asked for peace. Alfred was as wise as he was 
brave. He knew that though he should fight battle after 
battle with these heathen Danes, yet they would come again in 
greater numbers, and make England a continual battle-field. 
If, on the other hand, he could induce them to become 
Christians, and to settle peaceably in the country (for there 
was land enough and to spare, for both Dane and Saxon), then 
they might not only become good subjects, but help to drive 
away other tribes of their fierce countrymen. 



KING ALFRED THE GREAT. 29 

These terms Alfred proposed to the Danish king, Guthrum, 
after the battle of Ethandune. They were accepted. Guth- 
rum received Christian baptism, King Alfred answering for 
him at the font. To the Danes was granted that large portion 
of eastern England which they had overrun. It was then 
called Danelagh, or the country under the law of the Dane. 

For a time the land had rest. The king gathered around 
him learned men, and began those improvements which, more 
than his battles, have gained him the title of Great. But not 
yet was he to lay aside the warrior. At the end of twelve 
years Guthrum had died. Some of his Danes had broken 
their promises of peace, and welcomed to England new hosts 
of their plundering countrymen. Then came the famous sea- 
king, Hastings, with a fleet of two hundred and fifty 
vessels, and for three years the Raven of Denmark, 
borne on the standard of this bold chief, was the terror of 
every province of England At length, however, English 
valor prevailed, and the defeated and dispirited Hastings 
sailed away to other lands. 

Only four years remained to the life of Alfred, but they 
were glorious years for England. He divided the kingdom 
into counties. He established justice and order in the land, 
and made the laws so respected, that it is said bracelets and 
jewels might be hung up on the highway, and no man would 
dare to touch them. He taught his people to build better 
houses, and better churches. To his court he invited learned 
and good men from all countries. 

He entertained geographers and navigators, and gained a 
knowledge of other lands. Hearing of a Christian colony on 
the coast of Hindoostan, he sent thither an English bishop to 
visit them. This long and perilous overland journey was 
accomplished, and India first heard of that distant isle, which, 
ere a thousand years had gone by, was to become her ruler. 
The worthy bishop brought home rich treasures of spices and 
gems, and thereby India's products first became known to the 
Anglo-Saxon. 

King Alfred established schools, and provided for the 
3* 



30 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

instruction of his people. The world-renowned University of 
Oxford looks back with gratitude to this good king as its 
liberal benefactor, if not its founder. He did much to im- 
prove the language of his subjects. Hitherto nearly all the 
books had been written in Latin, which few of the people 
could read. Alfred ordered " all good and useful books" to 
be translated into English. He was himself a scholar, and 
translated the Book of Psalms, and other portions of God's 
word. A more precious legacy could hardly have been left 
by a ruler to his subjects. 

Alfred divided his time into three portions. Eight hours 
were given to the affairs of the state, eight to study and devo- 
tion, and eight to sleep, exercise, and refreshment. Clocks 
and watches were unknown, and to supply their place, Alfred 
invented time-candles. These were made of wax, notched at 
regular intervals, and indicated by their burning the flight of 
the hours. The wind coming in through the doors and win- 
dows, " and the numerous chinks in the walls of the jpalace/' 
caused his candles to flare, whereupon Alfred provided for 
their protection a lantern of transparent horn. 

It is pleasant to dwell upon the graces and virtues of Eng- 
land's noblest monarch. When we remember that, amid all 
the cares of government, and labors of study, he was suffering 
from a painful disease, which his physicians could neither 
understand nor cure, still more wonderful will appear the 
brightness of his character. Nor shall we deem it strange, 
that through a thousand years his name has lived in the 
memories and affections of men, as Alfred the Great. In the 
year 901, at the age of fifty-three, this good man and 
great sovereign was laid in his tomb in the monastery 
of Winchester, leaving behind him a name which shall be had 
in " everlasting remembrance.' ' 

Questions. — Who ascended the English throne in 871 ? — When 
had he visited Kome ? — What objects there had attracted his admi- 
ration ? — What ceremony was performed by the pope ? — Relate the 
anecdote of Alfred's learning to read. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE DANES. 31 

What was the condition of England when Alfred ascended the 
throne ? — State the result of his first encounters with the Danes. — 
Relate the story of the king and the oaten bread. — What encouraged 
him to try another encounter with the Danes ? — Where did this en- 
counter take place ? — What was the result of it ? — On what terms did 
Alfred offer peace to the Danes ? — How were they received by Guth- 
rum ? — What was the result ? — Give an account of a Danish invasion 
later in this reign. 

State some of the benefits bestowed by Alfred upon his people. — 
How was a knowledge of India obtained during Alfred's reign ? — 
What was done by Alfred for the promotion of education ? — What 
book did he translate ? — How did he divide and regulate his time ? — 
What circumstance greatly enhances the merit of his labors? — When 
did he die ? — Where was he buried ? 



CHAPTER V. 

ENGLAND UNDER THE DANES. 

THE SUCCESSORS OF ALFRED — ETHELRED THE UNREADY THE DANE KINGS 

— EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 

Edward, the son, and Athelstane, Edmund, and Edred, 
the grandsons of Alfred, proved themselves worthy successors 
of such a sovereign. They put down insurrections in the 
Danelagh, taking many towns from those restless Danes, and 
obliging them to dwell quietly in their own border. Athel- 
stane fought with the Welsh, and made them pay tribute of 
gold and silver, of hawks and hounds. He was the first Saxon 
sovereign who took the title of King of England. Even the 
great Alfred had only styled himself " King of the West- 
Saxons// 

At the. end of fifty years the Danes of the Danelagh 

had no more their own royal ruler. Their country was 

no longer one great kingdom of Northumbria, but was divided 

into the provinces which still bear the names of Yorkshire, 



32 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Durham, Northumberland, &c. The population was Danish 
nevertheless, and subjection to an Anglo-Saxon king was a 
most unwilling yoke. They turned their eyes towards the sea, 
ready to welcome the first pirate chief who would help them 
to re-establish their own power in the land. 

Such an opportunity was offered in the reign of Ethelred, 
who came to the throne in the year 978, on the murder of his 
elder step-brother, Edward, surnamed the Martyr. This crime 
had been committed by Elfrida, the mother of Ethelred, in 
order to place the crown upon his brow. It excited universal 
horror throughout the nation. "No worse deed than this," 
says the Saxon Chronicle, " had been committed among the 
people of the Angles, since they first came to the land of 
Britain." 

Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, opposed Ethelred's 
accession. This Dunstan was an ambitious and powerful 
priest, who for many years, especially during the reigns of 
Edwy and Edgar, the predecessors of Ethelred, had more 
truly ruled the realm than the king who wore the crown. 
Dunstan tried to persuade the nun, Edgitha, a half-sister of 
Ethelred, to become queen, but she thought of her murdered 
brother, and of the short reigns and sad deaths of many a 
Saxon king, and wisely refused to leave the quiet of the 
cloister for the perils of a throne. 

There was no other heir, and Dunstan was most unwillingly 
forced to make the young Ethelred king. It is said that, in 
placing the crown on his brow, the angry archbishop pro- 
nounced a curse, instead of a blessing, on the unhappy young 
monarch. He gave him, also, the nickname of " the 

979. G 

Unready." The curse, alas ! had its fulfilment, for in 
this unfortunate prince, the glory of the house of Alfred was 
for ever lost. He proved himself, also, but too deserving of 
the nickname of " Unready." 

For about thirty years the land had had rest from the Danes, 

but scarcely had Ethelred been three years on the throne, when 

the raven banner of the sea-kings was again raised in 

England. This time the Danish hosts were led by 



ENGLAND UNDER THE DANES. 33 

• 

Sweyn, a prince, and afterwards king of Denmark. And how 
did the weak King Ethelred repel them ? Not as his braver 
ancestors had done, by courage and arms, but by bribes of 
silver and gold. Of course they came again, plundering and 
burning as before. More money was given them, and 
the Danegeld (as the gold given to bribe the Danes 
away was called) rose from ten to sixteen, and finally to 
twenty-four thousand pounds. Then the weak King Ethelred 
tried another means to get rid of the enemy. He married 
Emma, " the Flower of Normandy," as she was called. She 
was the sister of Richard, duke of the Normans, and Ethelred 
hoped, by the aid of these strangers, to drive the Danes from 
the land. 

The Normans, as one might suppose from their name, were 
themselves Northmen, of the same race originally as the Saxons 
and Danes. Nearly a hundred years before the reign of King 
Ethelred, they had fallen upon France, pretty niuGh as the 
Saxons had upon England. The French king gave to their 
leader, Rolfe, or Hollo, a large portion of territory. The 
invaders settled therein, broke off their connection with their 
sea-roving countrymen, gave up even the religion and language 
of their ancestors, and became, in the course of a century, a 
people as brave as the Saxons, and in some respects more civil- 
ized. King Ethelred hoped that by his marriage with Emma 
of Normandy, Norman soldiers would come over and help him 
fight the Danes. 

In this hope he was disappointed, and now the third 
method which he took to rid himself of the enemy, was 
quite as weak as the other two, and far more wicked. On the 
13th of November, 1002, known as the Festival of St. Brice, 
he ordered the Danes to be put to death. The fearful, trea- 
cherous order was obeyed. In one night, this new Danish 
population, which, during twenty years of invasion, had become 
mingled with the English, was laid low by the swords of their 
hosts and neighbors. Among the dead was Grunhilda, the 
sister of the Danish king. When the tidings reached his ears, 
Sweyn vowed a fearful revenge. 



34 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

A larger fleet, a more numerous army than had ever before 
gathered for the invasion of Saxon England, now assembled. 
To the natural ferocity of the invaders was added a burning 
thirst for vengeance. " These choice warriors embarked in 
lofty ships, every one of which bore the ensign of its separate 
commander. Some carried at their prow such figures as lions, 
bulls, dolphins, dragons, or armed men of metal, gay ly gilded; 
others carried on their topmast head the figures of large birds, 
as eagles and ravens, that stretched out their wings and turned 
with the wind ; the sides of the ship were painted with differ- 
ent bright colors, arid from stem to stern shields of burnished 
steel were suspended in even lines, and glittered in the sun. 
Gold, silver, and embroidered banners were displayed, and the 
whole wealth of the pirates of the Baltic lent its aid to this 
barbaric pomp. The ship that bore the royal standard of 
Sweyn was moulded in the form of an enormous serpent, the 
sharp head of which formed the prow, while the lengthening 
tail coiled over the poop. It was called 'The Great Dragon/ " 
The fearful host landed in England. No Danegeld 

1003* 

could make them depart now. Town after town, pro- 
vince after province yielded. At last they drove the weak 
King Ethelred beyond seas, to take refuge with his Norman 
brother-in-law, and at the end of ten years of ravage and plun- 
der and warfare, Sweyn, king of Denmark, became king of 

England too. He died before his coronation, and the 

1013. & . . ' 

Danes proclaimed Canute, his son, as king. The Saxon 
cause was upheld by a son of Ethelred' s, Edmund, surnamed 
Ironsides. After some battles, the kingdom was divided be- 
tween the two rulers, Saxon and Dane. In a few months, 
however, Edmund Ironsides died, and Canute the Dane be- 
came full kino; of England. At the end of nearly two 

1017. . . . 

hundred years of invasion, a Danish race of monarchs 
was thus seated on the English throne. 

Canute did not feel very secure in his new kingdom, and 
cruel were the means he took to render himself more at ease. 
He said to his Danish warriors, " He who brings me the head 
of one of my enemies, shall be dearer to me than a brother," 



ENGLAND UNDER THE DANES. 35 

and the head of many a Saxon chief purchased this brotherly 
affection. The young sons of Edmund Ironsides were sent to 
Sweden, Canute hoping that the king of that country would 
cause them to be put to death. The Swedish king did not 
murder them, but sent them far away into Hungary, where, 
beyond the reach of the cruel Dane, they were kindly treated. 
There were two other heirs to the English throne. Ethel- 
red himself was dead, but had left two sons at the court of his 
Norman brother-in-law. Canute could not murder these child- 
ren, but he entered into treaty with their uncle, Duke Richard, 
and proposed to make their mother a second time queen of 
England. And Emma, the heartless " Flower of Normandy," 
for the glory of a throne, forgot the love and care she 

1017. to J i to 

owed her children, and became the wife of this strange 
Danish king, the cruel enemy of her Saxon husband and their 
sons. 

When Canute had disposed of all his enemies, he became a 
milder and a better king, and sought to win the favor of his 
subjects. He gathered round him the minstrels and gleemen, 
and delighted in old songs and ballads, and even made verses 
himself for the people. He made good laws for his kingdom, 
and becoming a Christian, founded churches and monasteries. 
One day, disgusted with the flatteries of his courtiers, he 
caused his throne to be placed on the sea-shore, when the tide 
was coming in. Then, as the waves rolled on with their 
resistless might, he commanded them to retire, " nor presume 
to wet the edge of his robe/' But, as each succeeding wave 
broke nearer the royal feet, he turned to his courtiers, saying, 
" Confess now how vain is the might of an earthly king, 
compared to that Great Power who alone. can say to the ocean, 
' Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further : and here shall thy 
proud waves be stayed.' " 

To Canute succeeded his sons, Harold and Hardi- 

1035. , 

Canute, the latter being the child of the Norman 
Emm'a. But though this heartless woman forgot the claims 
of her Saxon first-born at the court of Normandy, there were 
those in England who were not unmindful of his rights. 



36 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

During the reigns of the Danish monarchs, there was a strong 
Saxon party in England, headed by Godwin, the " Great Earl/' 
as he was called, and his six stalwart sons. On the death of 
Hardicanute, this party succeeded in bringing Edward, the 
son of Ethelred, from his long Norman exile, and placing him 
on the English throne. 

This last descendant of the race of Alfred was far 

1042. 

from proving the Saxon king for whom the people 
longed. He had been brought up in another land ; he had 
learned a foreign language, and could scarcely speak the Saxon 
tongue ; he loved the ways and manners of those among whom 
he had lived ; he was a stranger in his own kingdom. In his 
reign, the coming event of the great Norman conquest cast a 
broad shadow over the land. Normans filled the English court. 
Edward was a most pious king, according to the piety of those 
days, and won the name of Edward " the Confessor," or " the 
Saint." He loved to be surrounded by priests and monks, 
and soon the churches, the abbeys, the monasteries, and the 
convents were filled with favored Normans. Even the 
archbishopric of Canterbury was given to a foreign prelate. 
Norman-French was the language spoken at court and in the 
halls of justice, and those who sought the royal favor, laid 
aside their homely Saxon tongue, and studied the language 
of the strangers. The simple mark of the cross as the royal 
signature was abandoned, and in its place was used " the great 
seal." The fashionable, too, imitated the Norman dress. So 
completely had the court of England become Norman, that 
when, in the year 1051, William, the young duke of that 
country, came over to pay Edward a visit, he found himself so 
surrounded by the people and the customs of his own duchy, 
that he could scarcely realize that he had crossed the Channel. 
All these things displeased much the Great Earl Godwin and 
the Saxon party. 

On the death of Godwin, his son Harold succeeded 

to his earldom and power, and rose to even a higher 
place in the affections of the people. King Edward the Con- 
fessor had no children, and his life was drawing to its close. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE DANES. 37 

He sent to Hungary for the son of Edmund Ironsides. This 
prince came to England, but shortly after his arrival, 
died, leaving a son so young and incapable, that no 
one thought of him as the future king. The hearts of the 
English clustered around Earl Harold. The Norman favorites 
thought of their own duke. When William of Normandy 
visited England, and saw around him so much that reminded 
him of his own duchy, the hope, no doubt, arose in his mind, 
that one day the Saxon court might become Norman, and he 
the Norman king of England. William said, moreover, that 
when he and Edward were boys together in Normandy, the 
latter had promised, should he ever become king of England, 
to leave the crown, at his death, to his Norman playfellow. 

But William feared Earl Harold; and once, when the latter 
was in Normandy, kept him a sort of prisoner, until he had 
extorted from him an oath to aid the treacherous duke in get- 
ting the English crown at Edward's death. Harold returned 
to England. He felt that, should the people make him king, 
no oath forced from him by the Norman William, should 
induce him to betray his country to a stranger. 

On the eve of the Festival of the Epiphany, in the year 
1066, King Edward the Confessor died. He had rebuilt 
Westminster Abbey from its foundations, and with great 
solemnity and pomp, his remains were interred in a beautiful 
tomb within the sacred walls of the newly-finished edifice. 



Questions. — Eelate the deeds of Alfred's successors. — What was 
the condition of the Danes under these sovereigns? — By what means 
did Ethelred obtain the throne? — Who was Dunstan, and what of his 
influence in the kingdom ? — How did he seek to avoid crowning Eth- 
elred? — Kelate his conduct on the occasion. — By what means did 
Ethelred endeavor to repel the Danes ? — What was his second plan 
to effect this object? 

Who were the Normans ? — Describe their condition in this cen- 
tury. — Relate Ethelred's last attempt to get rid of the Danes. — What 
did it bring upon his kingdom ? — Describe the, armament which 
approached England. — What was the result of this invasion ? — Give 
the name and early character of the first Dane king of England. — 
4 



38 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Relate some of his acts. — Describe his character and conduct in the 
latter years of his reign. — Who succeeded him? 

When, in whose person, and by whose efforts, was the Saxon line 
restored ? — Describe the new influences introduced by this sovereign. 
— Who endeavored to counteract these ? — What two parties existed 
in the kingdom ? — Whom did the Saxons regard with favor as Ed- 
ward's successor ? — By what means did the Norman duke endeavor 
to secure his own succession ? — When did Edward die ? — Where was 
he buried ? 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 

WILLIAM THE NORMAN PREPARES TO INVADE ENGLAND — HAROLD REPELS 
THE INVASION OF TOSTIG — THE BATTLE OP HASTINGS. 

The Saxon chroniclers assert that Edward, before his 
death, named Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, as his suc- 
cessor. Be this as it may, the crown was placed upon the 
brow of the Saxon earl a few hours only after the saint-king 
had been laid in his tomb. 

William, the Norman duke, was hunting in his park, near 
the royal city of Rouen, when the tidings of Edward's 

1066. J J f & 

death and Harold's coronation reached him. Casting 
aside his bow and arrows, he hastened in silence to his palace. 
So dreadfully agitated did he seem, that for a time none dared 
approach or speak with him. At length a favorite courtier 
arrived at the palace, and ventured to ask the duke the cause 
of his uneasiness. " My spite," replied William, u comes from 
the death of Edward, and the wrong that Harold has done me." 
" Well, sire," answered his friend, " be not wroth at what can 
be mended ; for the death of Edward there is no help, but 
there is one for the wrongs of Harold ; justice is on your side, 
and you have good soldiers; undertake boldly; — a thing well 
begun is half done." 

William accepted the proverb, and from that moment all 



THE LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 39 

his energies were taxed to accomplish the conquest of Eng- 
land. The nobles of his court were eager for the enterprise, 
but the other classes of the duke's subjects were far from 
willing to cross the Channel and fight for a kingdom to which 
their master, at best, had but a doubtful claim. In a large 
assembly which was held in one of the Norman towns, Fitz- 
Osborn, a staunch friend of William's, tried to persuade the 
people to yield to his wishes. They refused, and bade Fitz- 
Osborn tell the duke that they " would serve him in his own 
country, but they were not bound to assist him in conquering 
the country of other men." Instead of delivering this mes- 
sage, Fitz-Osborn, whose whole soul was in the enterprise, 
gave a very different one, and told Duke William, that his 
faithful vassals were ready to serve him beyond sea to the 
utmost of their power. When the people heard this false 
message, the council hall rang with cries of " No ! No ! we 
never charged you with such an answer — we did not say 
that — that will never be." The people dispersed in great 
anger and tumult. 

William, hiding his wrath, took the chief members of the 
assembly, one by one, and spoke to them in such persuasive 
words of the great glory and wealth which would be gained 
by this expedition, that their prejudices were overcome, and 
as each one gave his own consent, he used his influence to 
win over others. By degrees all opposition was overcome, 
and the wily William had the written promise of his people's 
aid. 

Then the Norman duke published his ban of war in other 
countries, and adventurers from all parts flocked to his stand- 
ard. The Pope sent his blessing, together with a consecrated 
banner, a precious ring, valued among relics as containing a 
hair from the head of St. Peter; and a letter giving him per- 
mission to conquer England, on condition that he should hold 
it in subjection to the Holy See. To this letter was affixed a 
round leaden seal, called in Latin, " bulla," and from this has 
come the name of "bull," as applied to pontifical decrees 
bearing this seal. 



40 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

The sound of preparation was heard through all the 
Norman land. Smiths, armorers, and ship-builders 
wrought incessantly, and by midsummer a fleet of six hundred 
large vessels, and many smaller transports, had assembled on 
the coast of Normandy. When William had overcome all 
human obstacles to his plans, then arose those over which no 
mortal has control. The winds were contrary, and for more 
than a month kept William's fleet idle on the shores of his own 
duchy. Idleness bred discontent. The soldiers and sailors , 
began to say, " He is mad ! that man is very mad who seeks 
to take possession of another's country ! God is angry at such 
designs, and this He shows now, by refusing us a fair wind/' 
To quell these murmurs, William had the bones of St. Valery 
(a famous French saint) carried in procession through the 
camp on the sea-shore. Prayers were made to the saint, and 
the soldiers, believing *in his intercession, grew more hopeful. 
The next day the wind became favorable, and the Norman 
fleet sailed for .the English coast. From Duke William's 
vessel, the gift of his wife (the Countess Matilda), floated the 
pope's consecrated banner, surmounted by a cross. The silken 
sails were of many bright colors, parts of the ship were gilt, 
and the Three Lions of Normandy, the duke's arms, were em- 
blazoned in many places. On the prow was the figure of a 
child, holding a drawn bow, the arrow pointing, with the 
ship's head, towards the English coast. 

On the 28th September, 1066, this formidable fleet 

1066. r 7 ' 

cast anchor off the shores of Sussex. As William 
stepped on shore, he fell, but recovering himself instantly, 
prevented the superstitious fears of his army, by crying out, 
showing them a handful of English sand, " See, I have taken 
possession of the land by my hands, and as far as it extends it 
is mine, — it is yours." The Norman army lay in their camp 
near Hastings, and William, the duke, took up his quarters in 
the old Roman castle at Pevensey. 

Let us leave them here, and turn to the preparations which 
King Harold was making to resist this great army. Before 
William began to make ready for the invasion of England, he 



THE LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 41 

sent to Harold, reminding him of his oath, and demanding its 
fulfilment. Harold simply replied : " It is true that I made 
an oath to William, but I made it under the influence of force; 
I promised that which belongs not to me, and engaged to do 
what I never could do ', for my royalty is not mine, nor can I 
dispose of it without the consent of my country." 

Harold prepared to do battle for his crown. William was 
not his only enemy. A treacherous brother, named Tostig, 
who had been banished from England, now sought revenge. 
Aided by William the Norman, and accompanied by Harold 
Hardrada, a king of Norway, he landed, September 1066, in 
the neighborhood of York. Hardrada was the last of that 
race of Yikingirs, who had for so many centuries been the 
terror of England. 

To encounter this enemy, King Harold marched northward, 
leaving the southern coast, where the storm of war wag so soon 
to burst, exposed to all its fury. Before the battle, which was 
fought at Stamford Bridge, the English king sent to Tostig, 
offering him peace, friendship, and restoration to his 
ancient honors. " And what territory would Harold 
give to my ally, Hardrada, king of Norway ?" asked Tostig. 
" Seven feet of English ground for a grave ; or a little more, 
seeing that Hardrada is taller than most men," answered the 
herald. " Bide back, ride back, and bid King Harold make 
ready for the fight ! When the Northmen tell the story of 
this day, they shall never say that Earl Tostig forsook King 
Hardrada, the son of Sigurd. He and I have one mind, and 
one resolve, and that is, either to die in battle, or to possess 
all England." They kept their resolve. Both were slain on 
the battle-field, and their army was driven from the land. 
Scarcely had Harold gained this victory, when news came that 
William, duke of Normandy, had landed in England. He 
turned with his army southward. And now, as the year drew 
near its close, the great battle was to be fought, which should 
decide whether the Norman duke or the Saxon earl should 
wear the crown of England. 

King Harold's standard was planted on the spot where 
4* 



42 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Battle Abbey afterwards arose to commemorate this fight. 
Around it gathered brave English hearts. On Saturday, the 
14th October, the action began. The Normans advanced, 
singing the war-songs of ancient heroes, and raising their 
battle-cry, " Our Lady ! Our Lady ! God is our help !" The 
English drove them back with shouts of " Christ's Eood ! the 

Holy Rood I" For nine long hours the battle lasted ; 
°?1*J^* this fierce, fierce battle between Saxon and Norman, 

for the crown of England. When the sun went down, 
the brave Harold had fallen, and the banner of Duke William, 
" the Three Lions of Normandy/ ' floated triumphant over the 
bloody field of victory. The battle of Hastings had been 
fought, and the Norman conquest was begun. 



Questions. — Who succeeded Edward the Confessor? — Describe 
the conduct of the Norman duke when he heard of Harold's acces- 
sion. — How was William's project of invasion received by his sub- 
jects ? — Relate the attempts made to overcome this opposition, with 
their result. — What tokens of approbation did William receive from 
the Pope ? — Describe the preparations for the invasion. — By what 
was it delayed? — What means did the Norman duke employ to allay 
the fears of his army ? 

Describe the vessel in which William embarked. — Relate the inci- 
dent which occurred on his landing. — Where did the Norman army 
encamp? — How had King Harold replied to William's demand of the 
crown ? — Against what other enemy had Harold to combat ? — Relate 
the circumstances of this encounter, and its result. — When was the 
battle of Hastings fought ? — Describe the advance of both armies. — ■ 
How did it terminate ? 



CONDITION OF ENGLAND UNDER THE SAXONS. 43 



CHAPTER VII. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND UNDER THE SAXONS. 

RELIGION — LITERATURE — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

Let us now glance at the condition of the Saxon people at 
the time of the Norman conquest. First, as regards religion : 
the pure light of Christianity had become dim by the corrupt 
practices of an age of superstition. Fasting and penance, or 
the infliction of suffering on the body, was too often inculcated 
in the place of that scriptural repentance which leads to godly 
sorrow for sin and amendment of life. The building of a 
church or monastery, or a pilgrimage to Rome, atoned, it was 
believed, for the darkest crimes. Thus the wicked Elfrida, 
the mother of King Ethelred the Unready, in her old age, 
founded churches and monasteries, to make amends for the 
sins of her former life. Thus, too, Canute, the Dane king, 
went on a pilgrimage to Rome, because his soul was troubled 
with remorse for the blood which he had shed, and the crimes 
which he had committed. Robbing the English people of 
their money to bestow in alms on foreign churches, with 
pilgrim's wallet and staff, he found his way to Italy. The 
treasures he brought back with him were, the bones of dead 
saints, and " holy relics/' — such as the arm of St. Augustine, 
for which he had paid one hundred talents of gold, and the 
same amount of silver. The monks pretended to work mira- 
cles. The people were taught to call upon the saints, for aid 
and intercession. The word of God, whose entrance giveth 
light, was shut up from the laity in a foreign tongue. 

Dunstan, the abbot of Grlastonbury (afterwards Primate of 
England), was, both in his accomplishments and the means 
by which he gained his reputation for sanctity, a fair specimen 
of the monk of this age. He was a fine musician, a painter, 



44 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

well skilled in the arts of design, an illuminator of the beauti- 
ful manuscripts of that period, and practised in the arts of the 
jeweller and blacksmith. He gained the character of a saint 
by living in a cell so small that he could not lie down in it at 
full length, and by subsisting on the coarsest and most meagre 
fare. When, by these means, combined with his natural 
talents for command, he had risen to power and influence, he 
proclaimed himself a reformer of the church. This reforma- 
tion consisted in obliging those priests who were married 
(secular clergy they were called) to put away their wives, 
abandon their families, and go to live in monasteries, like the 
monks or regulars. The quarrel between these two parties 
was long and bitter. Gradually, the monks prevailed, but it 
was not until after the twelfth century, that celibacy became 
the general practice of the Church. 

In those dark times of superstition, it is pleasant to dwell 
upon a spot illuminated by the pure light of the gospel. 
Such seems to have been the little rocky island of Iona, on 
the western coast of Scotland. There, in the sixth century, 
St. Columba, an Irish monk, founded a monastery, and estab- 
lished a little colony of Christians. There they lived, owning 
no subjection to the Church of Rome, and only preaching 
" such works of charity and piety as they could learn from 
Holy Scriptures/' The clergy were called Culdees. 

Although monasteries and convents were in many instances 
places where idle and even wicked lives were led, yet were 
they very frequently sanctuaries for the oppressed, and the 
only refuge in those rude times for the weak and defenceless. 
Nor must we forget that to the life-long labor of many a monk, 
we owe the books which have come down to our times. Every 
monastery had its writing-room, and there copies of ancient 
works were transcribed on sheets of vellum or parchment. 
Paper was not then invented, and as parchment was costly, 
the previous writing was sometimes effaced to make room for 
the new. Many a time, in this way, some old and precious 
manuscript may have been erased, to give place to lives of 



CONDITION OP ENGLAND UNDER THE SAXONS. 45 

saints, or tales of miracles. Often the long lifetime of a 
monk would be spent in copying and illuminating a single 
book. These copies and illuminations were very beautiful. 
We hear of the gospels impressed in silver letters upon 
violet-colored parchment, and of other books, bound in gold, 
silver, and jewels, with "relics of saints set in the silver frame 
work of the pages." Of course, books written with such labor 
were very costly. They were as valuable, and were looked 
after with as much care, as a farm would be in our days, and 
the fortune of a king could scarcely buy as much reading as 
may now be found in a child's library. 

The monasteries were the schools of those days. There 
Latin and Greek were taught, as well as astronomy and theol- 
ogy. In painting, music, sculpture, and architecture, the 
monks were well skilled. Westminster Abbey rose in the 
days of Edward the Confessor. To the building of this mag- 
nificent structure, which was the pride of his heart, the Saint- 
king devoted a tenth of his revenue; but he scarcely lived to 
see it completed, and was the first of that long line of English 
monarchs who have been laid to rest within its walls. 

At Christmas, at Easter, and at Whitsuntide, the Saxon 
kings summoned the great council of the nation. It was 
called the Witenagemot. To this, years after, succeeded the 
parliament of England. In the Witenagemot were gathered 
the clergy and nobles of the kingdom, greater or less, whether 
Dane or Saxon ; the kings and chiefs of tribes, who paid tri- 
bute to the crown, were there also ; last, but not least, the 
ceorls, the people, had their representatives in the magistrates 
of the burghs or towns. In the Witan (as the name is often 
abbreviated), but more frequently in lesser courts, the people 
were tried who were accused of crimes. If the criminal could 
procure a certain number of friends, of a stated amount of 
property, to swear with him to his innocence, he was acquitted. 
If he could not find such witnesses, he committed his cause to 
a the appeal to heaven," or "trial by ordeal," as it was called. 
This consisted in plunging his arm into boiling water, holding 



46 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

red-hot iron in his hand, or walking over burning plough- 
shares. If, at the end of three days, no sign of injury was 
found upon the criminal, he was declared innocent. Very 
likely those who survived these ordeals had discovered some 
means of preparing their bodies, so that they should not feel 
the heat of the iron or the water. In those rude times, men 
often fought out their quarrels. This spirit is illustrated by 
the words which Shakspeare places in the mouth of Macduff, 
when the latter heard of the surprise of his castle, and murder 
of his wife and little ones — 

" Let us make medicines of our great revenge, 
To cure this deadly grief." 

It was in the days of Edward the Confessor, that the good 
King Duncan of Scotland was murdered; a deed made famous 
by the great English dramatist, in his play of Macbeth. 
The son of Duncan fled to the English coast, and was " re- 
ceived of the most pious Edward" with much favor. He 
subsequently married Margaret, a granddaughter of Edmund 
Ironsides. 

The Saxons cared much more for good living than for fine 
houses. Their dwellings were made of wood. They had no 
chimneys, the smoke being allowed to escape through a hole 
in the roof. In the windows of the rich, glass had taken the 
place of the lattice work, or linen blind. The floors were car- 
peted with rushes. The walls were hung with tapestry, or 
silken curtains, richly embroidered in needlework of gold or 
colored thread. In this art, the women of that age excelled. 
We hear of an embroidered curtain presented by an English 
lady to a church, on which was wrought a representation of the 
siege of Troy. - On the famous roll, known as the Bayeux 
Tapestry, is wrought, in woollen threads of various colors, a 
complete picture representation of the Norman conquest. 
This roll is of linen, twenty inches in breadth and two hun- 
dred and fourteen feet in length. It is still kept in the town 
house of Bayeux. 



CONDITION OF ENGLAND UNDER THE SAXONS. 47 

The furniture of a Saxon dwelling was simple. Stools, 
benches, and settles were used, instead of chairs. These were 
made, as were also the tables, of wood curiously carved. The 
English silversmiths were especially famous for their delicate 
workmanship, and on the tables of the rich were found cups, 
vases, and dishes of gold and silver, beautifully wrought. The 
common people used, dishes of wood, horn, and bone. Grlass 
vessels were not commonly found, and their place was supplied 
by drinking-horns, rimmed and ornamented with silver. 

The Saxons were extravagant eaters. Four meals a day was 
the allowance of all who could afford it. They became, after 
their connection with the Danes, immoderate drinkers too. So 
prevalent had this vice become in the days of King Edgar, 
that he caused drinking-horns to be made with knobs of brass 
at certain distances from each other, and commanded that no 
guest should be compelled, at one draught, to drink more than 
from one knob to the next. The tables were covered with 
cloths so large, that they could be spread over the knees of 
the guests, and used as napkins. The meats were served on 
small spits, by kneeling attendants. At festal meals the harp 
was handed from guest to guest, each being expected to con- 
tribute a song or a strain for the general entertainment. 

The dress of the Anglo-Saxon women consisted of a linen 
tunic, fitting close at the throat, having tight sleeves, and 
richly embroidered hems and borders. A loose garment, with 
flowing sleeves, was frequently thrown over the tunic. On 
the head, and enveloping the neck, was worn a veil of linen or 
silk. Men wore tunics of linen or woollen, descending to the 
knees, and fastened by a belt at the waist. These garments, 
too, had fine borders. Over this was worn a cloak, fastened 
by a ring or brooch on the shoulder. The tunics of the lower 
classes were often made of hide. On the legs were worn linen 
or woollen stockings, crossed with strips of cloth, linen,, or 
leather. Over the dress was often worn chains and crosses, 
and the belts, frequently of gold and silver, were studded with 
jewels. 



48 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

The amusements of the Saxons were of an exciting nature. 
The thanes, or nobles, delighted in hunting and hawking, 
whilst the ceorl enjoyed bear-baiting, the feats of the tumbler 
and the juggler, and the song of the gleeman and minstrel. 
More quiet spirits delighted in games, such as chess, dice, 
and backgammon. The latter is said to take its name from 
two Welsh words, signifying little tattle. 

At the time of the Norman conquest, the city of London 
was a very humble town : the streets were narrow and wind- 
ing, and here and there, at frequent intervals, the eye rested 
on the verdure and foliage of the beautiful gardens of the 
convents, which arose in every direction ; the houses were of 
wood, and wooden towers crowned the low thatched or reeded 
roofs of the churches. Tall crosses and images of saints 
marked the intersection of the ways, which custom may yet be 
traced in the names of the present thoroughfares Rood-Lane 
and Lady-Lane. Portions of the metropolis now so populous, 
were then the humble villages of Southwark, Charing, Lam- 
beth, St. Giles, St Pancras, &c, around and beyond which 
stretched orchards and fields, surrounding the scattered dwell- 
ings of the wealthy Saxon merchant and citizen. 

London was not then the capital of England. Winchester 
was the favorite city of the Saxon monarchs, but they held 
court as they listed, in various places of the realm. In the 
Easter of 1053, King Edward the Confessor wore his crown 
in the little village of Windshore, now Windsor. Through 
the same fair landscape still 

"Wanders the hoary Thames along 
His silver winding way,'" 

but the placid waters reflect not now the humble palace of 
800 years ago. 

" From the stately brow 
Of Windsor's heights" 

frown down the proud towers of the Castle, and in that truly 



CONDITION OF ENGLAND UNDER THE SAXONS. 49 

regal residence, Queen Victoria may hold her court, surrounded 
by a pomp and splendor, of which her royal Saxon predeces- 
sors never dreamed. 

Questions. — Mention some of the characteristics of the religion 
of this century. — Repeat the illustrations given in the conduct of 
Elfrida, Canute, and Dunstan. — Who were the Culdees ? — Mention 
some of the benefits conferred by the monasteries. — How were lite- 
rature and the arts profited by them? 

Of whom was the great council of the realm composed ? — Repeat 
the account of a Saxon criminal trial. — What was the frequent 
method of settling disputes ? — Mention the instance cited in proof" 
of this. 

Describe the houses and furniture of the Saxons. — What is said 
of their meals and habits at table ? — What were the costumes of the 
men and women of this period ? — What amusements were practised ? 
—Describe London as it existed in Saxon times. 



50 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



PART III. 

THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 

A. D. 1066—1100. 

'Then,' cried the Saxon soldiers, 'in vain are mace and mail, 
We fall before the Normans as corn before the hail.' 
'And vainly,' cried the pious monks, 'by Mary's shrine we kneel, 
For prayers, like arrows, glance aside, against the Norman steel.' " 
Altered from "The Ballad of Rou." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 

LAST STRUGGLES OF THE SAXONS — NORMAN ASCENDANCY — CLOSE OF THE 

conqueror's LIFE. 

The battle of Hastings was fought in October. Two 
months passed by ere William ventured to London, to receive 
the crown which that field had won. At length, on Christmas 
day of the year 1066, the Conqueror stood in Westminster 
Abbey. A train of Norman nobles and priests were with him 
Some English, too, were there. First, a Norman bishop asked 
William's followers whether they would have their duke 

crowned king of England : then Aldred, the 
\ooQ^ Si Saxon archbishop of York, demanded in English, 

if the people would take William the Norman for 
their king. Shouts of applause arose in answer to both these 
questions. The Conqueror's horsemen, outside of the Abbey, 
mistook them for cries of alarm from their Norman friends 
within. In hasty revenge they set fire to the English houses. 
Amid the confusion which followed, William and the arch- 
bishop were left trembling and almost alone before the altar. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 51 

Aldred placed the crown on the brow of the Conqueror, who, 
in addition to the usual coronation oath, promised to rule his 
new subjects as well as their best native kings had done. 

William had promised more than he could perform. A 
large army of nobles, soldiers, priests, and monks had come 
with the Norman duke to England. He had told them that, 
if they would help him to conquer the country, lands, abbeys, 
churches, and treasures should be theirs. These greedy 
Norman followers were not likely to Jet William forget his 
promises, and how could he keep them, without making beg- 
gars and outcasts of his English subjects ? One man alone, 
of all that Norman host, was found honest enough to tell his 
master that, " he desired not property seized and stolen from 
other men; that he should go back to Normandy, there to 
enjoy his humble but rightful heritage, and rest content with 
his own lot, without coveting the wealth of others." The 
name of this man was Guilbert Fitz-Richard. 

Saxon England was not to become the prey of the Norman 
conqueror, until after a long and hard struggle. When Wil- 
liam was crowned king, his dominions did not extend as far 
north as the city of Oxford, nor as far west as that of 
Exeter. 

In 1067, William visited his duchy of Normandy. During 
his absence, his harsh brother, Bishop Odo, so oppressed the 
English, that they rose against the Normans. William came 
back, and then began what may be called the real conquest of 
England. It was a contest of seven years' duration. 

Exeter, Oxford, Warwick, Leicester, Derby, Not- 
tingham, Lincoln, and thus on, city after city was 
taken. Norman castles, manned with knights and soldiers, 
arose all over the country : the fortresses, the garrisons, the 
houses of Saxon lords, were given to Normans : the churches, 
the monasteries, and the abbeys were filled with Norman 
priests. Numbers of English wandered away to foreign lands; 
many in later days became crusaders, and very many fled as 
outlaws to the woods and forests. Thus " Merry England," 



52 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

as the Saxons before the conquest delighted to call their 
country, was filled with sorrow and desolation. 

Between the Humber and the Tweed, in the old land of the 
Danelagh, English and Dane together made a desperate resist- 
ance. William marched into Northumbria, and after a bloody 
victory, entered the city of York with fire and sword, and left 
there a well-garrisoned citadel. In less than a year the 
English, aided by Scotch and Danes, laid siege to York. The 
citadel was strong, and for seven days the Norman 
garrison held out. On the eighth day they set the 
town on fire; the famous and beautiful York Minster, with its 
library, was burned : three thousand Normans were killed, and 
the English army entered the ruined city. 

William was in one of his hunting forests, when news of 
this victory reached him. All his wicked passions were 
aroused : he swore a fearful oath, that he would ravage the 
Danelagh with fire and sword, and utterly destroy the North- 
umbrian people. He kept this wicked vow. Eighty years 
after that time, an historian, writing of that district, says : 
" From York to Durham not an inhabited village remained. 
Fire, slaughter, and desolation made a vast wilderness there, 
which continues to this day." From the Humber to the 
Tyne, all was a lonesome desert. The miseries of the wretched 
Saxons who escaped the fire and sword were extreme. Many 
starved to death; some wandered into Scotland; others joined 
the outlaws of the forests ; and many, in utter despair, sold 
themselves, their wives, and children, as slaves to the Con- 
queror's soldiers. 

On the little isle of Ely, amid the bogs and marshes of 
" fenny Lincoln," was made the last stand for Saxon freedom. 
In this region stood the old and greatly revered English 
abbeys of Ely, Thorney, Peterborough, and Croyland. Here 
Hereward, whom his countrymen fondly named " England's 
darling," gathered all the brave spirits whom the fear of the 
Conqueror had not yet been able to subdue, and for three 
months kept the Norman soldiers at bay. At length treachery 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 53 

betrayed this last stronghold. The monks of Ely, weary of 
long privations, guided William's men across the marshes to 
Hereward's camp of refuge. The usual scenes followed : — 
cruel murder, robbery, and outlawry. Hereward escaped, and, 
with a few friends, for a time kept up the struggle. At last, 
seeing its hopelessness, he took the oath of allegiance to 
William. 

The Norman Conquest was finished : at least as far 

1073. . . 

as holding possession of the land was concerned. The 
country was divided among William's Norman followers. To 
one lord was given twenty-eight villages. Earl Percy had 
eighty manors and more bestowed on him. On the banks of 
the Swale, in Yorkshire, a Norman chief built the castle, and 
founded the town of Richmond. Another, Gilbert de Lacy, 
erected the strong castle of Pontefract. 

New abbeys and churches were founded, and the old ones 
were given to foreign churchmen. Norman prelates and 
priests were as grasping and cruel as Norman knights and 
soldiers. When the Conqueror died, but one Saxon bishop 
held his place in the English Church. This was Wulfstan, 
bishop of Worcester. He was an old man when summoned 
to Westminster Abbey, before a meeting of Norman priests. 
They told him he must give up his bishopric, not because he 
was an unfaithful pastor, but because he could not speak the 
French language. Instead of yielding up his crozier (the sign 
of his office) to the Norman prelates, the venerable bishop 
marched to the tomb of Edward the Confessor, and thus 
solemnly addressed the spirit of the dead king : " Master, 
not to them, who recall what they did not give,, and who may 
deceive and be deceived, but to thee, who gave them, and art 
now raised above all error, I resign my staff, and surrender 
my flock." Then, laying on the saint-king's tomb his pastoral 
staff, he seated himself as a simple monk among his brethren. 
This strangely-solemn resignation the Normans dared not 
accept, and, until his death, Wulfstan remained bishop of 
Worcester. 

Although William had divided England among his Norman 
5* . 



54 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

followers, they were not content, or else they hated him on 
account of his tyranny. While he was absent in his 

1074:. 

duchy of Normandy, the Norman nobles, whom he had 
left in England, aided by some of the English, entered into a 
conspiracy. William had left Lanfranc, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, to govern in his absence. This prelate, although more 
than ninety years old, acted with such vigor, that the rebellion 
was put down before William had recrossed the Channel. 

The English who had engaged in it were more severely 
punished than the Normans. The fate of Waltheof, son of 
the brave Earl Siward, is a striking instance of this. He had 
married a niece of the Conqueror, and was one of the few 
Saxon thanes on whom had been bestowed power and estates. 
The Norman barons who plotted against William sought to 
engage Waltheof in their conspiracy, but the clear-headed 
Saxon earl, foreseeing the hopelessness of the rebellion, would 
take no part in it. All that the conspirators could obtain 
from him was an oath of secrecy. He, however, imparted his 
knowledge to his wife, and she betrayed him to his enemies, 
by whom he was put to death. 

The wicked Judith thus sacrificed her husband in the hope 
that on becoming a widow she might marry a Norman nobleman 
of whom she was enamored. The Conqueror however refused 
to bestow her hand as she desired, and, on her rejection of the 
match which he had provided for her, deprived her of all the 
estates of Siward, and left her penniless upon the world. 
Hated and shunned by all, " the infamous Judith," as nearly 
all the chroniclers call her, wandered from place to place, 
seeking to hide her shame and misery in the most secluded 
corners of the land. 
1077 The close of William's life and reign was made 
to unhappy by quarrels among his own children. He 

had three sons : Robert, a reckless, extravagant youth, 
a great favorite with his mother, Matilda ; William, surnamed 
Eufus, or Red, from the color of his hair; and Henry, called 
Beauclerc, or Fine Scholar. Robert, now that his father had 
become king of England, demanded the duchy of Normandy, 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 55 

and this being refused, the undutiful son went to war with his 
parent. In spite of all Matilda's efforts to make peace between 
them, this war lasted with but little intermission throughout 
William's reign. 

The Conqueror met. his death in a fearful manner. He was 
warring against the king of France, and, with his accustomed 
cruelty, rode with fire and sword through one of the beautiful 
provinces of that country. It was harvest time : the ripe 
grapes hung in rich clusters on the vine, and the yellow grain 
waved its golden sheaves; but nought save revenge moved the 
heart of William. He made his cavalry trample down the 
grain-fields, and ordered his soldiers to root up the vines, and 
to cut down the trees. The city of Mantes he laid in ashes. 
As he rode into the burning town, his horse, stepping on the 
hot embers, plunged, throwing William on the pommel of the 
saddle, and giving him a severe bruise. The injury was 
mortal. 

In the monastery of St. G-ervas, near his ducal city 
of Rouen, the Conqueror passed the few weeks of life 
which remained. Remorse at last visited the heart of the 
dying man. He gave money to rebuild the ruins of Mantes. 
Large sums were sent over to English churches and monaste- 
ries, to atone for the robberies he had there committed, and in 
his last hours he consented to set free the unhappy captives, 
English and Norman, some of whom had languished in his 
dungeons for twenty years. 

Of his sons, Robert was wandering among foreign princes, 
and only William Rufus and Henry were near the death-bed 
of their father, anxiously waiting to hear his last will. To 
Robert he left the duchy of Normandy: of the English crown, 
he declared it was not his to bequeath, since he gained it not 
by inheritance, but by the sword. He expressed, however, a 
wish that William Rufus might wear it. " And what do you 
give to me, my father V said Prince Henry. " Five thou- 
sand pounds weight of silver from my treasury," replied the 
king. No sooner had the sons heard these words, than, leaving 



56 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

their dying father, they hurried away; the one to England, to 
look after his kingdom, and the other, to secure his money in 
a strong box. 

On the morning of the 9th of September, as the bells of a 
neighboring church were ringing the hour of prime,* William 
breathed his last. William the Great was duke of Normandy 
and king of England, but the mighty Conqueror had not won 
a single loving heart, to stay near and soothe him in his dying 
hour. Nobles and knights took horse and went their ways to 
look after their own interests ; the very menials, after robbing 
the chamber of everything valuable, fled, leaving the dead 
body of the monarch lying on the bare floor. Thus it lay for 
three hours. 

At length the archbishop of Rouen ordered that the 
body should be taken to Caen, and buried in a church 
which William had founded there. But who should take 
charge of the last rites : — his children, his kindred, and his 
followers had all fled, and none was found but a poor knight, 
who "out of his natural good-nature and for the love of God/' 
charged himself with the burial. ■ When the remains reached 
Caen, a procession was formed to convey them to the church 
of St. Stephen's. But a fire breaking out in the town, the 
body was left to the care of a few monks, whilst the rest of the 
funeral train ran to put out the flames. At last the church 
was reached. Abbots and monks assembled. The bishop of 
Evreux uttered a few words in honor of the dead king, and 
the body was about to be put into the ground, when the 
assembly were startled by a voice exclaiming in solemn tones : 
" Bishop, the man whom you have praised was a robber ; the 
very ground on which we are standing is mine — he took it 
from me by violence, to build tfyis church on it. I reclaim it 
as my right ; and in the name of God I forbid you to bury 
him here, or cover him with my glebe." The priests were 

* A service in the Roman Catholic Church, beginning at 6 o'clock. 
in the morning. 



WILLIAM RUFUS. 57 

obliged to pay sixty shillings for the ground in which, at last, 
rested the remains of William, duke of Normandy, and con- 
queror of England. 

Questions. — Describe the coronation of William the Conqueror. — 
What demands were made by William's followers ? — Relate a single 
instance of moderation. — Describe the progress of the conquest. — 
What cities were taken ? — What was the fate of the Saxons ? — Relate 
the success of their resistance in the north. — Describe William's 
revenge. 

Where and by whom was the last stand made for freedom ? — What 
was its result? — Mention the names and portions of some who shared 
in the spoils of the conquest. — Relate the conduct of Wulfstan, bishop 
of Worcester. — By whom was a rebellion headed in 1074, and with 
what result ? 

Mention the troubles which embittered the close of William's life. 
— Relate the incidents which led to his death. — How did he endeavor 
to atone for his crimes ? — How did he dispose of his dominions ? — 
Describe the scene which followed his decease. — Relate the account 
given of his burial. 



CHAPTER IX. 

WILLIAM RUFUS. 



THE CROWN DISPUTED — TREATMENT OF THE SAXON RACE — THE KING'S 

DEATH. 

As William Rufus, the undutiful son of the Con- 
queror, was journeying to England, he heard of his 
father's death. With all. speed he hurried to Winchester, 
seized the royal treasures, and persuaded Lanfranc, the aged 
archbishop, to place the crown on his brow. 

Many of the Normans who held lands both in England and 
Normandy, desired that one lord should rule both countries ; 
and as they hated William Rufus, they persuaded Robert his 
elder brother to claim the English crown, and gave him the 
aid of their arms. The contest between the two brothers con- 



to 
1100. 



58 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

tinued with but little interruption for eight years. At length, 
in the year 1096, Robert, anxious to take part in the crusades, 
mortgaged his duchy to William for three or five years, receiv- 
ing in return the sum of ten thousand marks, and departed for 
the Holy Land. William was well pleased to see his brother 
engaged in this dangerous adventure, from which he might 
never return, in which case Normandy would fall to the 
English king in undisputed possession. 
1096 The same cruel wrongs were practised upon the 
English in the reign of William Rufus as in the days 
of the conquest. The hand of injustice fell heavily 
upon the Saxon church. " The Norman chief," says Thierry, 
"whether clerical or lay, differed only in his garb. Under 
the coat of mail, or under the cowl, he was ever the foreign 
conqueror — insolent, harsh, and grasping." The Saxons had 
called their rich men by a name [hlaford] meaning "the 
divider of bread,' ' from which has come the. modern English 
title of lord. They were thus named because at their hospitable 
board was provided bread and good cheer for the peasant. 
But now the Norman lord was a harsh master. Shut up in 
his castle with gates closed and barred, he came in contact 
with the Saxon only to rob or to injure him. " There was in 
King William's days warre and sorrowe ynow," writes an old 
Saxon chronicler. These days came to an end. 

The evening of the 1st of August, in the year 1100, 
the Red King spent at Malwood Keep, a hunting 
lodge in the New Forest. He waited for the dawn of day, to 
begin anew the pleasures of the chase. In the morning an 
archer presented the king six new arrows. Praising their 
beauty, William gave two to his friend, Sir Walter Tyrrel, 
saying, " Good weapons are due to the sportsman that knows 
how to make a good use of them." The remaining arrows he 
placed in his own quiver. After a sumptuous banquet the 
chase began. The party, among whom was Henry, the brother 
of the king, were scattered through the wide forest, but Wil- 
liam and his friend Sir Walter hunted together. As the sun 
was setting, a hart came bounding by, between the king and 



CHANGES EFFECTED BY THE CONQUEST. 59 

his companion. The king drew his bow, but the string broke. 

" Shoot ! Walter — shoot I" cried the monarch. The arrow sped 

from Sir Walter's bow, but turned aside by glancing against a 

tree, it lodged, not in the side of the deer, but in the heart of 

the king. Sir Walter took horse, escaped to France, and 

afterwards went on a crusade. 

The body of William Rufus was found later in the 
1100. J 

evening by a charcoal burner. Tradition says that on 

the spot where the dead king's body lay had once stood an 

Anglo-Saxon church. 



Questions. — Relate the circumstances of William Rufus's acces- 
sion. — By whom was his claim disputed? — What withdrew Robert 
from the contest? — Describe the treatment of the English during 
this reign. — Whence came the title of Lord, and what did it signify ? 
— How did the Norman noble contrast with the Saxon lord? — Relate 
the circumstances of the king's death. 



CHAPTER X. 

CHANGES EFFECTED BY THE CONQUEST. 

THE FEUDAL SYSTEM — NEW FOREST — DOOMSDAY BOOK — THE CRUSADES. 

Before entering upon another century, it may be well to 
learn something of the change in the social condition of the 
people of England, which was made by the Norman conquest. 

When a great chief, such as was William of Normandy, 
conquered a country or province, he considered himself the 
owner of it. A portion of the lands he kept for himself, the 
rest he divided among his barons, who promised in return to 
follow him to battle whenever he should call upon them for 
such service. The barons in their turn divided these lands 
among their followers in the same manner, and on the same 
terms. Such lands were called fiefs; those who gave them 
were called feudal lords, and those who held them were named 



60 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

vassals. This holding of land for military service, instead of 
buying or paying rent for it, is called the Feudal System, and 
was introduced by William the Conqueror into England. 

The feudatory relations of Hugh, first Earl of Chester, may 
be cited in illustration of this system. When the province, 
of which the old Roman city of Chester was the stronghold, 
had been conquered, William bestowed it upon a follower, 
who, because he bore on his shield the figure of a wolf's head, 
was called Hugh Lupus, or " the Wolf." 

No sooner did the new lord come into possession of his 
earldom, than he sent into Normandy for an old companion 
named Lenoir. The latter came, bringing no less than five of 
his brothers with him. Hugh conferred upon him the title 
of constable and hereditary marshal. He gave him the town 
of Halton ; granted him a liberal share in the spoils which 
should be taken in battle; the privileges of jurisdiction over 
a large district, and the fines thereof; the right of pre-emption 
or first purchase in the Chester market over all comers thereto, 
save the servants of the earl ; the highway and street tolls at 
the fairs held in Chester ; the market dues of his district of 
Halton, and the liberty of selling free of taxation every species 
of merchandise, excepting horses and salt. In return for all 
this, Lenoir engaged for himself and his heirs to march with 
their retainers at the head of the earl's armies in going forth 
to battle, and in returning to bring up the rear. 

Lenoir, in his turn, bestowed lands and privileges, with the 
title of seneschal, upon his next brother, for service and 
homage similar to that which he himself rendered to the earl. 
On the second, third, and fourth brothers, the constable 
bestowed lands and manors in proportion, and the fifth, who 
was a priest, received the gift of a church. 

Something like feudal tenure had, to a limited extent, been 
known among the Anglo-Saxons, but the first Norman king 
established it as a system. Those who had been nobles among 
the Saxons now became vassals to the Norman lords. At the 
time of the Conqueror's death there was scarcely a native 
Englishmen in the land who held so high a title as earl or 



CHANGES EFFECTED BY THE CONQUEST. 61 

baron. The most numerous class in the nation were those 
called by the Saxons ; ceorls, and by the Normans, villains. 
They belonged* to the estate of the lord, and could neither 
remove from it of their own will, nor yet be removed by the 
will of the master. Some were entitled to the occupation of a 
cottage, in which case they were called by the Saxons, heorth- 
fastmen : others rendered their services in the household of 
their lord. Above the villains were the freemen, who held 
of the Norman lord as free-tenants, and were entitled to some 
political rights, though to none so important as those belong- 
ing to the tenan ts-in-chief, as persons holding of the king were 
called. The lowest class in the nation, not accounted even as 
belonging to the people, were the serfs, or bondmen, who were 
in every sense the property of their master. 

Among the Normans who flocked to England during the 
early years of the conquest, were many men of low degree. 
Mechanics, peasants, and foot-soldiers in Normandy, assumed, 
on the opposite side of the Channel, the titles of nobleman and 
gentleman. Whole families, obscure in birth, and destitute 
of fortune, from every corner of France, made their way into 
the new kingdom, sure of finding there an ample provision for 
every member, at the expense oftentimes of the noblest of the 
Saxon race, who were driven forth to destitution and beggary. 

The following old rhyme satirizes this wholesale immigra- 
tion of foreign adventurers : 

" William de Conigsby 
Came out of Brittany 
With his wife Tiffany 
And his maide Maufas 
And his dogge Hardigras." 

Homage was required of every vassal. In performing this 
ceremony, the vassal, unarmed and with uncovered head, knelt 
before his lord, and putting his hands in those of his superior, 
promised to become u his man" thenceforward, and to serve 
him faithfully for the lands he held. The ceremony was 
generally concluded by a kiss. 
6 



62 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

By degrees, not only lands, but everything else came to be 
held in fief ;>. the right to cut wood in the forests, or to fish in 
the streams, was thus obtained. High and honorable offices 
were given in fief. Nor was military service the only condition 
on which estates were bestowed by the feudal baron. Very 
frequently the cup-bearer, the steward, the master-of-the-horse, 
the carver, the butler, and the chamberlain held their lands in 
fief, for the domestic services which they rendered to their 
lord. 

In the days of the feudal system, kings had much greater 
possessions than they have now. William the Conqueror 
owned fourteen hundred manors, besides a large number of 
houses, forests, parks, and chases. Yet even this extravagant 
number of hunting-grounds did not satisfy him. To obtain 
another, more extensive than all the rest, he laid waste a 
beautiful district nearly ninety miles in circumference. It lay 
in the south-west part of the province of Hampshire, near the 
royal city of Winchester. Thirty-six parish churches, amid 
their beautiful villages, and over a hundred pleasant manors, 
were destroyed by this pitiless king, that he might enjoy one 
more forest in which to hunt wild animals. The wretched 
inhabitants were driven from their burning homes, the priests 
from their churches, the monks from their monasteries. Well 
might the Saxon chronicler add, " this savage king loved wild 
beasts as if he had been their father." This cruel outrage on 
the part of King William struck the English people with 
horror. They believed that amid the shades of the New 
Forest the judgment of God would fall upon the wicked Con- 
queror and his posterity. These prophecies had their fulfil- 
ment. Before the arrow of Sir Walter Tyrrel laid low the 
Red King, a son and a grandson of the Conqueror had met 
death in the gloomy shades of this ill-fated hunting-ground : 
the one killed by the untimely flight of an arrow, the other 
gored to death by a stag. 

In order to ascertain the value of the land in his new king- 
dom, the Conqueror ordered a book to be made, containing 
a valuation of every estate or manor throughout England 



CHANGES EFFECTED BY THE CONQUEST. 63 

excepting in the counties of Durham and Northumberland, 
how much land it contained, and what it was capable of 
producing. This book, which is still preserved, is called 
" Doomsday Book." 

The Crusades, in which Robert of Normandy and Sir Walter 
Tyrrel joined, and which for nearly two hundred and fifty years 
drew numbers from every country of Europe, were great mili- 
tary expeditions against the Turks in Palestine. 

It had long been customary to make pilgrimages to Rome 
and other places accounted sacred. The pilgrim made these 
journeys on foot, in an humble garb, with staff and scrip, 
depending upon the alms of the charitable for his daily supply 
of food. On his return, he brought some token from the holy 
places which he had visited. Such pilgrims as had been in 
Palestine bore palm-branches, and were hence called palmers. 

" The scallop-shell his cap did deck ; 
The crucifix around his neck 

Was from Loretto* brought ; 
His sandals were with travel tore, 
Staff, budget, bottle, scrip, he bore ; 
The faded palm-branch in his hand 
Showed pilgrim from the Holy Land." 

No country on the earth was considered so sacred as Pales- 
tine. There were Bethlehem and Nazareth, and there arose 
Jerusalem, the city of the great king, within whose walls lay 
the Holy Sepulchre. For a long time, Christian pilgrims 
were allowed to visit these sacred scenes unmolested ; but in 
the eleventh century, when Palestine fell into the hands of 
the Turks, these fierce conquerors, more intolerant than the 
Saracens whom they had dispossessed, began to persecute 
Christian pilgrims. 

In the year 1094, one of these pilgrims, a monk, 

named Peter the Hermit, roused by the wrongs and 

cruelties of the Turks, travelled through all the Christian 

* An especially sacred shrine in Italy. 



64 HISTOKY OP ENGLAND. 

countries of Europe, preaching to all classes, and persuading 
them to raise armies for the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre. 

In those days of warlike zeal, such preaching was eagerly 
followed, and in the year 1096, a large army, numbering the 
bravest of Europe's knights and soldiers, took its march for 
the Holy Land. Each warrior wore a cross embroidered on 
his garments, or painted on his shield. Hence, these wars 
took the name of Crusades, or wars of the cross. 

Questions. — In what manner did a conqueror and his followers 
dispose of the conquered territory ? — Give a definition of the feudal 
system. — Relate the illustration given in the instance of the first 
earl of Chester. — Mention the several classes of the population, and 
describe their condition. — What account is given of some of the 
Norman invaders ? 

Describe the ceremony of homage. — What other possessions, be- 
sides lands, were holden in fief? — On what other conditions, besides 
military service, were estates held ? — What great cruelty and wrong 
did William's passion for the chase lead him to commit? — How was 
this act regarded by the English ? — Relate what befell three of the 
Conqueror's posterity in the New Forest. — What was Doomsday 
Book? 

Describe pilgrimages. — What difficulties were encountered by pil- 
grims to the Holy Land, at the close of the 11th century ? — To what 
did these lead ? — When was the first crusade undertaken ? — What 
gave name to these wars ? 



HENRY I. AND STEPHEN. 65 



PART IV. 

ENGLAND DURING THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 

HENRY I.— STEPHEN— HENRY II.— RICHARD I. 
A. D. 1100—1199. 

"To chase the pagans in those holy fields, 
Over whose acres walked those blessed feet, 
Which [many] hundred years ago were nailed 
For our advantage to the bitter cross." 

Shakspeare. 



CHAPTER XI. 

HENRY I. AND STEPHEN. 

WARS AGAINST ROBERT — EFFORTS TO SECURE THE SUCCESSION OF MATILDA 
— SURNAMES — CIVIL WAR. 

On the death of William Rufus, Robert, heir to the 
1100. 

crown, was far away in the Holy Land, and Henry 

Beauclerc, unmindful of his brother's rights, sped from the 
sad scene of death in the New Forest, and seized the throne. 
Henry's subjects of Saxon race were favorably disposed 
towards him, because he was the only one of the Conqueror's 
sons who was English born. Still further to secure their good- 
will, he married an English princess — Edith, the great-grand- 
daughter of Edmund Ironsides. The Saxon maiden was most 
unwilling to wed the son of the Norman Conqueror, but, after 
much entreaty, she gave her consent, in the hope that this 
union might be the means of reconciling the two people. 
She then received the name of Matilda, to gratify the Nor- 
mans, who could not bear that the sweet English name of 
6* E 



66 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Edith should constantly remind them of the Saxon birth of 

their queen. By the Saxon chroniclers she is called Maude 

the Good. 

Henry was a Norman at heart, although he was of English 

birth, had married an English princess, and had given to 

his Saxon subjects charters sealed with his own seal; yet, 

when he no longer needed their aid, he forgot all these claims, 

and treated the English no better than his father and brother 

had done. 

Robert, on his return from Palestine, laid claim to 
1101. ' ? 

the English crown. For years the same brothers' 

strife which had made the last reigns so miserable, was kept 

up in this. Nor did the contest end when Robert lay 

1106. r - * J 

blind and a prisoner in Cardiff Gastle, the victim 
of Henry's cruel triumphs. Generous hearts in France and 
Flanders gathered around the Norman duke's young son^ 
William Fitz-Robert, and for a time strove to win for him the 
English throne. 

In the year 1120, Fitz-Robert's cause was lost; and, 
having triumphed over every enemy, Henry thought 
he might enjoy his crown in quiet, and leave it in undisputed 
succession to nis only and beloved son. But He by whom 
kings rule, had ordained otherwise. The son (William) on 
whom the monarch's every hope was centred, and to whom 
he had caused all his nobles to swear allegiance, perished by 
shipwreck ; a calamity which so affected King Henry, that it 
is said he was never afterwards seen to smile. This event, 
however grievous to the heart of the Toyal father, was not so 
to the English nation. The young prince had been heard to 
say, that when he should be king, he would yoke Englishmen 
like oxen to his ploughs. " He will never yoke us to his 
plough now," they exclaimed, on hearing of his death ; " the 
judgment of God hath fallen on the cruel oppressor." 

The remainder of Henry's life was spent in trying to secure 
the crown to his daughter Matilda. He summoned all his 
nobles, and made them take the same vows of obedi- 
ence to her which they had before taken to her brother. 



HENRY I. AND STEPHEN. 67 

In the year 1127 she was married to Geoffrey, Prince of Anjou. 
This prince was surnamed Flantagenet, because he wore in his 
bonnet a sprig of flowering broom, called " plante a genet." 
Although Geoffrey himself never wore the English crown, 
from him sprang the long line of Plantagenet kings, who for 
so many centuries swayed the sceptre of England. 

It was in these days that the practice of giving surnames 
began to prevail. At first, a second name was added to the 
Christian one, only to denote some individual peculiarity, as in 
the case of William Rufus and Henry Beauclerc. They had 
no common family surname (sire-name). The second name 
was adopted by the Normans, as a badge of distinction from 
the conquered Saxons. A young Norman lady refused to 
marry the husband whom King Henry chose for her, on the 
plea that he had but one name. u My father and my grand- 
father," said she, " had each two names, and it were a great 
shame to me to marry a man who has only one." The king 
removed the proud damsel's objection, by giving the noble- 
man, whose Christian name was Robert, the surname of Fitz- 
Roy; meaning, son of the king. The Normans frequently 
took for a second name, that of the Norman home from which 
they had come. Thus the family of Seymours were so named 
from the French town of St. Maur. 

Henry I. died in the year 1135, in Normandy. In 

compliance with a curious custom, common in those 

days, a portion only of his body was buried in that country ; 

the remainder was taken to England, and laid in the abbey 

church of Reading, which he had founded. 

In the days of which we write, there was little love or reve- 
rence for truth among men ; least of all, among princes. They 
multiplied oaths, and took them with great solemnity, on the 
altars, at the tombs of saints, and over shrines filled with sacred 
relics. But the fear of the God of truth had no place in their 
hearts. Thus the Norman barons who swore fealty to Matilda 
only, did so out of fear for the king, her father. As soon as 
Henry was dead, these nobles placed the crown, not on the 
brow of the Countess of Anjou, as they had solemnly sworn to 



68 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

do, but on that of Stephen, Count of Blois, a grandson of 
William the Conqueror, and nephew of the late kiDg. 

King Stephen was not a cruel man, but, as he was compelled 

to fight against Matilda for his crown, the country was 

to plunged into civil war, and there was more misery 

115 ' and sorrow in his reign than in that of many a worse 

king. The nobles built castles all over England, in which 

they lived like robber chiefs. Bands of lawless soldiery, 

retainers of the great barons, roamed about, plundering and 

burning. No one felt safe. The nation was so divided 

1139. to 

between the parties of Stephen and Matilda, that 
neighbor suspected neighbor, and brother had no confidence 
in brother. In a whole day's journey, towns would be found 
without a single inhabitant, and the country without a culti- 
vated field. Some of the poor people built wretched huts 
near the walls of the churches, or in the graveyards, hoping 
that the sanctity of the place might preserve them from 
violence. 

In the year 1147, Matilda, broken in health and 
1147. J ! ' 

spirits, gave up fighting for the throne, and went back 

to Normandy. Her son, Henry Plantagenet, came into Eng- 
land, to contend for the cause which his mother had abandoned. 
On opposite banks of the river Thames, near the town 
of Wallingford, lay the two armies of Henry Planta- 
genet and King Stephen, ready for battle. One good noble- 
man, the Earl of Arundel, boldly said : "It was a shame to 
increase the miseries of a whole nation, on account of the 
ambition of two princes. " Other lords were of the same wise 
opinion, and undertook to make peace between the parties. 
They succeeded; and thus ended the weary and wicked 
struggle. 

By the terms of the peace, Stephen was to reign 
until his death, and then Henry Plantagenet was to 
succeed to the crown. The death of Stephen occurred in the 
following year. 

An old Saxon chronicler says of his reign : " All was 
dissension, and evil, and rapine This lasted the whole 



THE FIRST SIXTEEN YEARS OP HENRY II.'s REIGN. 69 

nineteen years that Stephen was king, and it grew continually 
worse and worse." 

Questions. — What disposed the English favorably towards Henry 
I. ? — By what act did he especially attach the people to him ? — How 
did his professions towards the English result? — What wars dis- 
tracted the kingdom ? — Which party triumphed ? 

Relate the domestic affliction which befell King Henry. — To what 
efforts did he apply the closing years of his life ? — Of what royal 
house was Geoffrey of Anjou the founder? — Why so called? — How 
were surnames first applied ? — How were they regarded by the Nor- 
mans ? — Repeat the illustration given in proof of this. 

Who succeeded Henry I. ? — What was the character of this reign ? 
— Between what parties did civil war prevail ? — Describe the state 
of the country during this reign. — Relate the circumstances which 
terminated this struggle. . 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE FIRST SIXTEEN YEARS OF HENRY Il/g REIGN. 

EXTENT OF HENRY'S DOMINIONS — HIS QUARRELS WITH THE CHURCH- 
THOMAS A BECKET. 

The young Henry Plantagenet, a monarch at the 
early age of twenty-one, was the richest sovereign in 
Christendom. He was king of England and duke of Nor- 
mandy. By the death of his father, in 1150, he had become 
count of Anjou and Touraine. By his marriage with Eleanor, 
daughter of the earl of Poictou and duke of Aquitaine, he 
became lord of the vast territory which stretches between the 
mouth of the Loire and the Pyrenees, including some of the 
finest provinces of France. He laid claim to the rich earldom 
of Toulouse, and destroyed the independence of the 
gay, light-hearted people, who, amid the beautiful 
valleys of Provence and Languedoc, had preserved, in that 
rude age, a home for poetry and the arts. In Brittany, he 



70 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

compelled the brave descendants of the ancient Bri- 

1166. r 

tons to yield to his authority, and married his eldest 
son, Geoffrey, to the daughter of one of their native dukes. 

Although Henry pretended to hold these provinces as fiefs 
of the French crown, he was, in reality, so independent, that 
the king of France was left with but a small territory to 
govern. This monarch, Louis VII., was ever ready to make 
war upon his powerful vassal. The people of Henry's new 
provinces liked not the rule of the foreign master, and the 
wicked Eleanor stirred up his children to revolt. These 
clouds cast their darkest shadows over the later years of this 
king's long and eventful reign. At first, trouble arose in a 
more unlooked-for quarter. 

The power of the church in England at this time was very 
great. King William the Conqueror had made a law, by 
which it was forbidden to try any clergyman in the civil 
courts. "Whatever the crime he had committed, he was only 
answerable to the bishops' or church courts. The clergy 
could not, by their canon or church law, sentence one of their 
own order to death, nor were they disposed to be very severe 
towards clerical offenders ; and thus many an evil deed escaped 
the punishment which it deserved. 

Although this law of William's was a very bad one in many 
respects, yet it had come in the course of years, to be of great 
service to the English portion of the nation. Many a Saxon 
villain escaped from the harsh tyranny of his Norman lord, 
and became a priest. The master might try in vain to recover 
him; for the cause could only be tried in the church courts, 
and the church never sent back to the plough, or the work- 
shop, any who had taken vows for the service of religion. In 
this way, many a Saxon villain became free from servitude to 
the Norman, and for this reason the English population were 
friendly to the privileges of the clergy. 

Henry II., unable to brook the existence of an authority in 
the land, rivalling his own, determined to abolish the church 
courts. To carry out this reform, it was of the first import- 
ance, that the primate, second only to the sovereign in power, 



THE FIRST SIXTEEN YEARS OF HENRY II.'S REIGN. 71 

should be one disposed to espouse the interests of the king, 
even at the sacrifice of the independence of the clergy. Such 
a man Henry thought he had found in his chancellor, 
Thomas a Becket, who accordingly was made archbishop of 
Canterbury, in the year 1162. 

The history of this remarkable man is very interesting. 
His father, Gilbert Becket, was a Saxon yeoman, who, in the 
reign of Henry I., following the banner of his Norman lord, 
had gone on a crusade against the infidels in Palestine. There 
he was taken prisoner, and became the slave of a Saracen chief. 

During his captivity, Becket won the affection of the only 
daughter of his master. By her aid, he escaped from bondage 
and returned to England. The Saracen maiden formed the 
bold design of following her lover. She knew but two English 
words, " London" and " Gilbert." Fleeing to a seaport, she 
repeated the word " London," until she obtained passage on 
board a vessel bound for that port. On arriving, she went 
through the streets of the city, crying " Gilbert," " Gilbert," 
until the sound of his name reached the ear of her lost lover. 
Becket persuaded her to receive Christian baptism, and she 
became his wife. From this union of a Saxon yeoman and a 
Saracen maiden, sprang Thomas a Beckjet. 

When very young, Thomas was sent to France, there to 
learn more perfectly the language of the conquerors, and to 
lose every trace of the English accent, which could betray him 
as one of the oppressed race. Returning to England, young, 
accomplished, with polished manners, and well versed in the jg 

arts of pleasing, he soon became a general favorite with the * 

Norman lords. Introduced at court, he rose high in the royal 
favor. 

Henry made Becket chancellor of England, committed to "- 

his care the education of his eldest son, and loaded him with 
riches and honors. His dwelling was a palace : — he had ves- 
sels of gold and silver, dresses emblazoned with jewels, tables 
laden with costly dishes, and one hundred and forty knights 
as his attendants. 

When he was travelling in France, his retinue excited the 



72 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

admiration of all beholders. He was preceded by 
two hundred and fifty singing boys; then came his 
hounds and light wagons, laden with provisions, his wardrobe 
(and on this occasion we are told he had twenty-four changes 
of apparel), the furniture of his chapel, and of his bed- 
chamber. Two of the wagons .carried barrels of ale, to be 
distributed among the people. After the wagons, were led 
twelve beautiful horses, " having on each a kneeling groom, 
and a monkey in front of hirn." Then followed war-horses 
for all the knights in his train. After them, came the fal- 
coners, knights, and squires; and lastly, the royal chancellor 
himself. As the people of France gazed upon this splendid 
pageant, they exclaimed, " What manner of man must the 
king of England be, when his chancellor travels in such 
state !" 

In return for all the favor bestowed upon him by the king, 
Thomas a Becket seemed devoted to the royal interests. He 
attended Henry in his wars, and, although a churchman, 
donned armor of mail, and, at the head of seven hundred of 
his own vassals, captured French castles for the English king. 
He aided Henry in breaking down the great power of the 
Norman barons, eleven hundred of whose castles, the strong- 
holds of robbery and cruelty, were levelled to the ground. 
He even reproved the bishops who asserted their independ- 
ence, telling them that men of the church were as much 
bound to support the royal authority, as men of the sword. 

It is true, that when the subject of the primacy was first 
named to Becket by the king, he said, laughingly, whilst 
pointing to his gay dress, " A fine saint you have chosen for 
so holy an office !"-— and then added, more seriously, " besides, 
you have views on the subject of the church, to which I 
could never lend myself; and I fear that, if I were to become 
archbishop, we should soon cease to be friends." But Henry 
did not regard these words as uttered in earnest. 

No sooner had Becket been installed primate of 

England, than, giving up his office of chancellor, he 

dismissed his retinue of knights and squires, and surrounded 



THE FIRST SIXTEEN YEARS OF HENRY II.'s REIGN. 73 

himself by men of Saxon birth, and low degree. His delicate 
food was exchanged for the coarsest fare ; water, in which were 
steeped bitter herbs, supplied his daily drink. Sackcloth took 
the place of his costly raiment. He washed the feet of beggars, 
and visited, with alms and prayers, the sick and the miserable. 
From indulging in every extravagance which even his luxurious 
taste could devise, he came now to abandon the most simple 
and innocent recreations of life. The man of the world had 
become a rigid monk, and gained by his extraordinary austeri- 
ties the reputation of a saint. 

The king's dismay at this change in the new arch- 

1163. . 

bishop was unbounded. That the devoted, pleasure- 
loving courtier, whose talents had been hitherto chiefly con- 
spicuous in ministering to the royal magnificence, should now 
set himself in opposition to the monarch's will, and rival the 
asceticism of a St. Dunstan, was indeed matter of astonishment 
to the whole realm. The conduct of Becket, however, did not 
suffer the king's mind to remain long in doubt as to the reality 
of this strange transformation, and in this long and bitter con- 
troversy between Henry and his prelate, it must be conceded 
that a Becket was the first aggressor. 

Henry very soon discovered that the views of Becket, as 
the courtier had asserted before his promotion, were widely 
different from his own on the subject of ecclesiastical autho- 
rity. So far from showing any willingness to abate the influ- 
ence of the clergy, the new primate did all in his power to 
increase and extend it. 

In the county of Kent, on the banks of the Med- 

way, and scattered throughout other portions of that 
pleasant province, stood strong castles and fair manor-houses, 
which in more favored days had belonged to the see of Can- 
terbury. Becket insisted on the restitution of them all. From 
the king himself he claimed the strong castle of Kochester, 
the position of which rendered it a place of great importance, 
and from the Earl of Clare he demanded the surrender 
of Tunbridge barony and castle. But the crowning audacity 
of the haughty prelate was the excommunication of one 

7 



74 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

of Henry's vassals for interfering in a matter of church pre- 
ferment. This last act made Henry exceedingly angry ; for 
among the laws which he was most anxious to establish, was 
one to prevent the excommunication of a vassal of the king, 
without the royal consent. 

The quarrel between the monarch and his once familiar 
friend became daily more violent. The king won over most 
of the bishops, and all the Norman nobles, to his side, and the 
primate was left single-handed in the struggle. He had with 
him, only the hearts and prayers of the English portion of the 
nation, who saw with pride and delight, an archbishop of Saxon 
birth, opposing, with so much firmness, the power of a Norman 
king. 

At Clarendon, near Salisbury, the king held a large 
assembly of bishorjs and nobles. He presented to 
them sixteen articles (known as the Constitutions of Claren- 
don) for the regulation of the church. Becket alone refused 
to sign them. The king then took away the riches which, in 
other days, he had delighted to lavish upon his favorite 
courtier. Bishops and nobles besought the primate to yield, 
and for a moment he gave in his adhesion to the king's de- 
mands, but afterwards repented of this submission, and re- 
newed his resistance to royal authority. Believing his life 
and liberty in danger, he fled in the disguise of a Saxon monk, 
taking the name of Brother Dearman, to France. 

This quarrel was long and bitter. Sometimes the Pope and 
the king of France .took part with the exiled primate, and 
sometimes with the angry monarch. At length, in the year 
1170, the Pope took decided ground in support of the arch- 
bishop, and obliged Henry, who was then in France, to restore 
him to favor. The meeting of reconciliation was held in a 
pleasant meadow on the borders of Touraine. 

A few months later, Becket went back to England. 

His friends begged him not to venture across the 

Channel. They told him he had enemies there, who hated 

him to the death, and that one knight had sworn, " that he 

would not let the archbishop live to eat a single loaf of bread 



THE FIRST SIXTEEN YEARS OF HENRY II.'S REIGN. 75 

in England/' But the fearless archbishop replied : " Seven 
years of absence are long enough, both for the shepherd and 
his flock, and I will not stop, though I were sure to be cut to 
pieces as soon as I landed on the opposite coast." Becket 
entered England in safety, and was warmly received by the 
poor and lowly of Saxon blood ; but not a single great lord or 
noble, not one of Norman race, gave welcome to the exile. 

Not long before Becket's return, the king had caused his 
eldest son, Prince Henry, to be crowned by the archbishop 
of York. The right of crowning English monarchs, since the 
conquest, had belonged solely to the archbishop of Canter- 
bury. When the primate found that this honor had been 
conferred on the see of York, he persuaded the Pope to ex- 
communicate the archbishop, as well as the bishops of London 
and Salisbury, who were among Becket' s chief enemies. 

The three excommunicated prelates hastened across 

1170. r 

the Channel, and presented themselves to the king in 
Normandy. Henry's anger, on hearing of what had been 
done, knew no bounds. u How !" he exclaimed, " a fellow 
that hath eaten my bread, — a beggar, that first came to my 
court on a lame horse, dares insult his king and the royal 
family, and tread upon the whole kingdom, and not one of the 
cowards I nourish a* my table — not one will deliver me from 
this turbulent priest !" Solomon says : " The wrath of a king 
is as messengers of death." Scarcely had Henry uttered these 
words, when four knights secretly left his court. Their ab- 
sence was unnoted, their design unsuspected. 

Soon they were in England, lodging at the house 

of a bitter enemy of Thomas a Becket. On the after- 
noon of the 29th of December, they came, with twelve adhe- 
rents, to the archbishop's palace, arrayed in armor. The 
gates were barred, and the building rung with the sound of 
blows from the battle-axe of the conspirators. Becket's 
attendants urged him to take refuge in the church. He 
refused, until, hearing the chanting of vespers, he exclaimed, 
" Now my duty calls me thither, I will go." With calm and 
statelv mien, preceded by his cross-bearer, Becket passed into 



76 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the cloisters, and proceeded to the cathedral. On entering, 
his followers would have barred the doors, but he forbade 
them. Scarcely had he reached the steps ascending to the 
choir, when a knight, followed by armed men, appeared at the 
other end of the church, and a voice cried, ** Where is the 
traitor?" The church was dimly lighted — only here and 
there a lamp glimmered before a shrine. In the crypts of the 
old cathedral, Becket might easily have found a hiding-place ; 
but he would not stir, and when the voice again cried, " Where 
is the archbishop V he answered, " Here am I, an archbishop, 
but no traitor, ready to suffer in my Saviour's name" 
Alone, save for the protection of his faithful cross- 
bearer, who warded off the first blow, the English archbishop 
was slain at the foot of a column, then standing in what has 
ever since been called, " The Transept of the Martyrdom," in 
the cathedral church of Canterbury. 

Questions. — Describe the territorial possessions of Henry II. — 
Relate the means by which he acquired them. — Were these vast do- 
minions left him in undisturbed possession ? — What law had been 
made by William the Conqueror in behalf of the clergy ? — How had 
it operated in favor of the Saxon portion of the nation ?— What de- 
sign did King Henry form? — To effect this reform, what requisite 
was important ? 

Relate the history of Becket's parents. — Where did he pass his 
childhood? — Describe Becket's advancement in the royal favor. — 
Give some account of the style in which he travelled. — -In what ways 
did he render assistance to the king ? — How did he receive the pro- 
position of the primacy ? 

Describe Becket's conduct on becoming archbishop. — In what way 
did he thwart the king's designs? — What classes espoused the cause 
of the king ? — Who remained with Becket ? — Describe the primate's 
conduct regarding the Constitutions of Clarendon. — What foreign 
powers took part in this quarrel, and what was their conduct. ? — 
When and by what means was a reconciliation effected ? 

Describe the archbishop's return to England. — What act of the 
king had, about this time, excited Becket's anger? — How did the 
primate treat his enemies ? — Describe Henry's conduct, and repeat 
his words, on hearing of this transaction. — What effect did the latter 
produce ?— -Relate the circumstances of Becket's death. 



HENRY II. 77 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HENRY II. 

THE LAST FOURTEEN YEARS OF HIS REIGN — CONQUEST OF IRELAND — WAR8 
IN FRANCE. 

Thomas a Becket gained by his death the cause for 
which he had suffered during life. The king dared no longer 
contend against the power of the church, and obtained absolu- 
tion from the Pope, in the year 1172, only on condition that 
he would do away with all laws hostile to the privileges of the 
clergy. 

Three years and a half after the death of the arch- 
il 74> 

bishop, the king visited his tomb at Canterbury, and 

did penance there, causing himself to be scourged by eighty 
monks, with knotted cords. Another act which contributed 
to regain the favor of the Pope, was far more in accordance 
with King Henry's natural character and tastes. This was 
the conquest of Ireland. 

The people of Ireland had been converted to Christianity 
by the labors of St. Patrick, a Scotch bishop, who had 
preached among them, in the fifth century of the Christian 
era, more than a hundred years before St. Augustine's mission 
to England. The Irish became very earnest and warm-hearted 
Christians; and no country sent out more missionaries, ani- 
mated by pure zeal for spreading the glad tidings of the 
gospel. Ireland, too, in those days, had many learned as well 
as pious men, and her schools and scholars became famous 
throughout Europe. The teacher of Alfred the Great was an 
Irishman. The Christian Church in Ireland did not acknow- 
ledge the authority of the Pope, and the Roman pontiff, 
offended at this independence, was quite ready to give his 
countenance to any king who would conquer the island, and 
bring it under subjection to the Papal see. 



78 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Henry first found a footing in Ireland, by espousing the 
cause of one of its five kings, who, driven by the others fronr 
his own kingdom, sought revenge at the hands of the English. 
Henry was at that time too much engaged in his wars in 
France, to go in person to Ireland, but he wrote letters, 
granting permission to any of his noble vassals to engage in 
the enterprise. The Earl of Pembroke, surnamed Strongbow, 
raised an army, restored the exiled Irish chief, and then, 
with much cruelty, proceeded to conquer other provinces. 
Henry himself visited Ireland in the year 1171. He put an 
end to the growing power of his vassal, the Earl of Pembroke, 
and taking the title of king of Ireland, demanded the submis- 
sion of the Irish people. 

The kingdoms of Leinster and Munster yielded to his 
authority, but the wild races in Ulster and Connaught, pro- 
tected by their marshes and mountains, refused submission to 
the foreign conquerors. Henry's new kingdom embraced only 
the eastern half of the island, and might be bounded on the 
west by a line drawn from the mouth of the river Boyne to the 
mouth of the Shannon. 

Thus, in the year 1172, was a new province won for the 
crown of England, and a new church brought under the 
dominion of Rome. 
1173 And now there gathered around these latter years 

to of King Henry's reign, those clouds of domestic dis- 
sension and sorrow, which darkened his pathway to 
the grave. Henry was a devoted father, but his sons, Henry, 
Geoffrey, and Richard, stirred up by their ambitious mother, 
Queen Eleanor, were in constant rebellion against him. In 
thes,e rebellions, which extended through the space of sixteen 
years, the people of Eleanor's provinces, Touraine and Aqui- 
taine, sided with the young princes, and the songs of their 
troubadours fanned these flames of family strife. 

In the year 1187, came sad tidings from the Holy Land. 
The Mohammedans had taken Jerusalem from the Christians, 
and the Pope, Gregory VIII., had died of grief at the 
news. His successor, Clement III., immediately summoned all 



HENRY II. 79 

Christian princes to a second crusade. Henry of England, 
Philip of France, and Richard, who was then the eldest son 
of the English king (Henry and Geoffrey having died a few 
years before), responded warmly to the call. The three 
princes met in peace, under the shadow of an old elm tree, 
and there vowed to take the cross for the Holy Land. 

But ere the preparations could be made, Richard was again 
in arms, with the French monarch, against his father. The 
old king's sorrows had almost bowed him to the grave. The 
people of Normandy were still faithful to him, and he had 
placed his love and confidence in his youngest son, John. 
In the year 1189, he made peace with Richard, and the 
names of those who had rebelled against him were brought to 
him for pardon, when he beheld that of John first on the list. 
His heart was broken. He exclaimed, "Is it true, that the 
child of my heart— he whom I have cherished more than all 
the rest, hath verily betrayed me? Now, then, let everything 
go as it will — I have no longer care for myself, or for the 
world I" 

He lingered a few sad days, and then was laid in the abbey 
church of Fontevraud, on the banks of the Loire. Richard 
is said to have visited his father's bier, and to have shed over 
it bitter tears, in vain remorse for the conduct which had 
brought that parent in sorrow to the tomb. 

" Alas ! my guilty pride and ire ! 
Wer^but this work undone, 
I would give England's crown, my sire ! 
To hear thee bless thy son." 



Questions. — What was gained by Becket's death ? — On what con- 
dition was absolution granted to the king ? — What penance did 
Henry perform ? — When and by whom had Christianity been intro- 
duced into Ireland? — What was the condition of Ireland in those 
days ?— Why did the Roman pontiff consent to its invasion ? — What 
circumstance afforded Henry an opportunity for this? 

Describe Earl Pembroke's conduct. — What parts of Ireland were 
conquered ? — Describe the limit of the new kingdom. — Relate the 
domestic dissensions which disturbed the latter half of Henry's 



80 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

reign. — What occurrences affecting all Christendom took place in 
the year 1187? — What princes assumed the cross? — By what was 
Henry detained ? — What circumstance hastened his death ? — Where 
did he die ? — Describe Richard's conduct. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

RICHARD I. 

HIS CRUSADE — CAPTIVITY — RELEASE — WARS IN FRANCE — RICHARD'S 
DEATH — WILLIAM LONGBEARD. 

Henry was succeeded by his son Richard, called Coeur-de- 

Lion, or " the lion-hearted/' on account of his great bravery. 

It would have been better for his subjects had he 

1189. tit 

been more human-hearted. 

No sooner was Henry II. laid in his grave, than Richard 
of England and Philip of France remembered the vow which 
had been taken under the old elm tree, and agreed to leave 
their own kingdoms, and go, as brothers in arms, to the rescue 
of the Holy Sepulchre. 

In order to obtain money, Richard sold a great many offices 
and dignities, as well as lands, castles, and towns belonging to 
the crown of England. When one of his courtiers expressed 
surprise at his doing this, Richard exclaimed : "I would sell 
the city of London itself, if I could find a purchaser 1" 
Many Jews had settled in England, and had become wealthy 
by trade and commerce. From them, especially, it was 
thought no wrong to extort money; and large numbers were 
robbed of their wealth, by the most cruel means, to furnish 
the necessary supplies for this costly enterprise. They were 
even tortured until they consented to give up their silver and 
gold. 

The inhabitants of many of the English towns belonging to 
the king, taking advantage of this eagerness of their royal 
master for money, united, and made great efforts to raise a 



RICHARD I. 81 

sum sufficient to purchase their houses, and thus to become, 
for the payment of an annual rent to the crown, proprietors 
of the towns they dwelt in. When Richard had obtained 
the desired funds, he departed, with a gallant retinue of 
knights and soldiers, for the Holy Land. 

On the 8th of June, in the year 1191, after a great 
variety of adventures, the fleet of this crusading king 
entered the bay of Acre, amid the sound of martial music, and 
the rejoicing shouts of the Christian army. The latter stood 
greatly in need of aid. They had been besieging the Moham- 
medans in the town of Acre for nearly two years. The town 
had not yielded, and now Saladin, the famous Saracen chief, 
had gathered his army on the heights of Carmel, and not only 
helped the besieged city to hold out, but so surrounded the 
Christian army, that they were in great danger of destruction. 

The French had reached Acre before the arrival of the 
English, but they had given no assistance to the Christians. 
In four days after Richard, Coeur-de-Lion, had anchored in 
the bay, the town of Acre surrendered to his valor, and the 
army of Saladin was scattered. 

The lion-hearted Richard won many a bloody field in the 
land of the infidel. So great became the terror of this prince's 
name, that mothers used it to frighten their children; and 
long years after Coeur-de-Lion had left the shores of Palestine, 
if a horse started, his Syrian rider would exclaim : " Dost 
thou think King Richard is in that bush V 
ii9i ^ ear Ascalon, in the battle of Azotus, Richard per- 
to formed wondrous deeds of valor, and the conquered 
Saladin mourned the loss of seven thousand brave 
soldiers. Richard recovered Jaffa, the Joppa of the Bible, 
and rebuilt Ascalon, working on its walls with his own hands. 
All along the coast of Palestine, from Gaza to Acre, he estab- 
lished strong posts. He had many personal encounters with 
the Saracens, and the strength of arm with which he dealt 
the blows of his heavy battle-axe, excited the wondering admi- 
ration of both friend and foe. 

Saladin was a worthy rival of this crusading king. They 



82 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

fought fiercely in battle with each other, but are said to have 
been mutually courteous during the seasons of peace. When 
Richard was ill, Saladin sent to him the cooling snows of 
Lebanon, with presents of damson plums and other delicious 
fruits from the vale of Damascus. 

Cceur-de-Lion never entered Jerusalem. Led to a neigh- 
boring height, whence he might look down upon the Holy 
City, he is said to have raised his shield before his eyes, 
exclaiming that he was unworthy to look upon the sacred spot 
which he had been unable to redeem. Deserted by the French 
king, and delayed or thwarted in his plans, Richard, before 
he had fulfilled the desire of his heart, and rescued the Holy 
Sepulchre from the hand of the infidel, was recalled to his 
own kingdom. 

The English king, on departing for the Holy Wars, had 
left the government of the realm in the hands of a man named 
Longchamp. Richard, aware of the artful and designing cha- 
racter of his brother, Prince John, had placed no authority in 
his hands, but in lieu thereof had granted him large possessions 
both in England and France. No sooner had the king gone, 
however, than John began to plot against Longchamp, and, in 
the end, succeeded so well, that he drove him from the king- 
dom, and took the direction of affairs into his own hands. 
Before the close of two years, John found one as treacherous 
as himself, to help him in his usurpation of his brother's 
rights. This was no other than Philip of France, the once 
intimate friend, and sworn brother-in-arms, of the crusading 
Richard. They had quarrelled, and become bitter foes. 
Philip, on leaving the Holy Land, had promised not to make 
war upon the English king, nor to invade any of his territories 
whilst the latter was engaged in the Crusades. In passing 
through Rome, however, the French king persuaded the Pope 
to "absolve him from this promise; and no sooner did he return 
to France, than he joined John in his evil designs on the 
government and territories of Richard. 

When intelligence of these transactions reached Palestine, 
s the English king, thinking it high time for him to return to 



RICHARD I. 83 

his own land, made a truce with Saladin, which was to last 
three years, three months, three weeks, three days, and three 
hours. In October of the year 1192, Richard hade farewell 
to the Syrian shore. From his ship in the bay. of Carmel, 
Coeur-de-Lion gazed for the last time upon the sacred moun- 
tains of Lebanon. Turning towards those glorious hills, he 
cried : " Most Holy Land, I commend thee to God's keeping. 
May He give me life and health to return and rescue thee 
from the infidel !" It was a difficult matter for Richard to 
find a safe route to England ; for, besides the king of France, 
he had many enemies in Europe. To avoid these, he sailed^ 
up the Gulf of Venice, intending to pass thence through 
Styria, to some friendly German port, whence he might em- 
bark for England. 

Adverse circumstances threw him out of his route-, and 
after many romantic and perilous adventures, he found him- 
self on the banks of the Danube, in Vienna, the capital of his 
bitterest enemy, — the duke of Austria. One da^, he sent his 

young servant to the market-place to purchase food. 

The unusual amount of money ki the hands of the 
boy, and his rich dress, had already awakened suspicion ; for 
the rumor had gone abroad that the king of England was 
travelling from the Holy Land in disguise. On the day in 
question, the boy carried in his girdle, gloves such as were 
worn only by kings and princes. This confirmed the sus- 
picions. The boy was questioned, and forced to betray his 
royal master, who was immediately seized and thrown into 
captivity, by the duke of Austria. When the emperor of Ger- 
many heard of this, he obliged the duke to give up his prisoner, 

saying that it was not proper that a king should be 

held by one of less rank than an emperor. 
For some months the world knew not what had become of 
the king of England. Some crusaders reported that he had 
fallen into the hands of the Moors ; others that he had been 
seen in Italy. A beautiful story is told of the manner in 
which the place of his imprisonment was at length discovered. 
It is said that Blondel, King Richard's favorite page, wandered 



84 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

into Germany in search of his lost master. That at length he 
reached the castle in which Richard was imprisoned, and sang 
to his guitar, beneath its walls, one of the troubadour songs in 
which the crusading king delighted. Immediately, the voice 
of the captive, as he took up and continued the strain, fell on 
the ear of the delighted page. 

It is more probable, however, that the secret of Richard's 
prison-house was betrayed by a letter sent from the emperor 
of Germany to the king of France. In this letter, the emperor 
tells Philip that " his enemy is loaded with chains in one of 
his castles of the Tyrol, where trusty guards watch over him 
day and night with drawn swords." To Philip, say the old 
historians, this news was worth more than a present of gold or 
of topaz. In England, and in Europe generally, it was 
received with indignation. 

At length, the great exertions of the queen mother and the 
interference of the Pope prevailed, and the English king, after 
nearly two years of captivity, was released for the sum of one 
hundred thousand silver marks. Philip of France had made 
every effort to prolong Richard's imprisonment. When he 
learned that these endeavors had failed, he sent the following 
hurried message to John : " Take care of yourself, for 
the devil is let loose." Prince John had good reason 
to dread his brother's return, for he had been usurping the 
government during all the king's absence. 

Richard was received by his people with every token of joy. 
They were proud of his fame as a crusader, and they hoped for 
better government than they had had in the times of confusion 
which followed his departure. When the German barons who 
entered London in the king's train, saw the magnificence of 
his reception, they exclaimed : " Oh ! king, if our emperor had 
suspected this, you would not have been let off so lightly." 
Ah ! these German barons saw only the surface. Could the 
English people and the oppressed Jews have spoken, they 
might have told of sorrow and cruelty enough suffered by them, 
when the Normans had gone about to raise the enormous sums 
of money required fca* the king's ransom. 



RICHARD I. 85 

Richard forgave his brother John, saying, as he did so : 

"I hope I shall as easily forget his injuries as he will forget 

my pardon." He soon raised an army to punish the 

to treacherous Philip. The war with France continued, 

1199, with the exception of a few truces, until Richard's 

death, in the year 1199. Whilst besieging the stronghold 

of a rebellious vassal in the province of Aquitaine, King 

Richard received a mortal wound. 

Perceiving his end draw near, he sent for the man who had 
shot the fatal arrow. " Wretch/' exclaimed the king, " what 
have I done unto thee, that thou shouldst seek my life ?" 
a My father and my two brothers," replied the undaunted 
man, " hast thou slain with thine own hand, and myself thou 
wouldst hang. Let me die now; I rejoice in ridding earth 
of such a monster." In a few days the lion-heart was stilled 
in death, and the body of King Richard of England was con- 
signed to a tomb in the abbey church of Fontevraud. 

The vast sums of money which Richard raised for his wars, 
caused great oppression to his English subjects. When the 
taxes Were heaviest, an English merchant, William, surnamed 
Longbeard, stood up in defence of the people. From 
a very famous street pulpit, called Paul's Cross, he 
preached to them about their wrongs, and, as his enemies said, 
" inflamed the poor and middling people with the love of liberty 
and happiness." 

He complained to the king of the unequal taxes, and Rich- 
ard promised to relieve the poor, but was either unable or 
unwilling to keep his word. As the English grew more and 
more attached to Longbeard, whom they called " the king of 
the poor," he became an object of hatred to the Normans. 
One day, whilst walking, with a few followers, he was seized 
by his enemies. He escaped from them to a church. At 
the end of four days, they burned the church, again seized 
William Longbeard, and hanged him, with nine of his com- 
panions. 

He was the last Saxon whom we hear of, as openly resisting 
the Norman rulers of the land. More than one hundred and 



86 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

thirty years were yet to pass, before English and Normans 
became as one people. 

Questions. — What was the surname of Richard I., and why given? 
— By what means did he obtain money for his crusade? — How did 
many English burghers benefit by this ? — Describe Richard's recep- 
tion and conduct at Acre. — Mention his subsequent exploits in the 
Holy Land. — What courtesies did he receive from Saladin ? — De- 
scribe his visit to the mountains that are round about Jerusalem ? 

Why had he been unable to rescue the Holy Sepulchre ? — Relate 
the transactions which had occurred in England during his absence. 
— Describe the conduct of Philip of France. — Repeat Coeur-de-Lion's 
farewell to Palestine. — Relate his adventures in attempting to reach 
England. — In what way was the place of his captivity probably 
discovered? — What efforts were made for his release? — Describe his 
reception in England. — What wars employed the rest of his reign ? 
— Relate the manner of his death. — Who was William Longbeard ? — 
Relate his history. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 

FEUDAL CASTLES — CHIVALRY— ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD — ARMCWt — TOUR- 
NAMENTS — FEASTS — DRESS — LEARNING — ROBIN HOOD. 

The castle of a feudal lord covered many acres of ground. 
Its site was frequently a rocky eminence overlooking a stream 
or river. Three principal divisions are included in the idea 
of a Norman castle of the twelfth century : The outer and 
inner bailey or court, and the keep or castle itself. The outer 
circumference of the whole was surrounded by a broad ditch 
called a moat. Within this came a high thick wall, strength- 
ened by towers, and guarded by a huge gate. This gate con- 
sisted of two massive iron-plated doors, defended by a port- 
cullis or iron grate let down from the archway above. 



CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 87 

"Within its steepy limits pent, 
By bulwark, line, and battlement, 
And flanking tower and laky flood, 
Guarded and garrisoned it stood, 
Denying entrance or resort, 
Save at the tall embattled port, 
Above whose arch suspended hung 
Portcullis spiked with iron prong." 

Marmion. 



The outer bailey contained the dwellings of the baron's 
retainers, the granaries, storehouses, offices, &c. Then came 
another strongly-guarded wall, within which was the inner 
bailey, where stood the chapel, the soldiers' lodgings, and the 
keep or residence of the baron. 

The lower story of the keep was a dark vaulted cellar, often 
used as the prisoner's dungeon. The chambers of the upper 
story alone were furnished with windows and a chimney ; in 
these the family dwelt. The windows, at best, were narrow 
apertures, for in those days of war and rapine, every man's 
house was literally his castle, and homes were built, not so 
much as abodes of social comfort, as for strongholds against 
the assaults of unfriendly neighbors. Outside of the walls of 
the baron's castle, at the foot of the hill, clustered the feudal 
village. In the midst of the cottages, or huts, where dwelt 
the villains and serfs of the lord, or upon the bank of the little 
river, stood the village church. The curate of this humble 
parish was at first the chaplain of the castle, but, by degrees, 
these two offices were separated, and the pastor dwelt beside 
his church in the midst of his lowly flock. 

The castles of the barons were the schools of chivalry. In 
those days of violence there were some good and noble spirits, 
who lamented the evils and cruelties which were committed. 
As this sense of right increased, it gave rise to the well-known 
orders of chivalry, which softened in some degree the ferocity 
of the middle ages. The true chivalric knight vowed to 
defend the church and the clergy, to succor defenceless women, 



88 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

to protect the widow and orphan, and to practise especially the 
virtues of truth and courage. 

In the baron's castle, the noble youth of the land learned, 
in the character of pages and squires, those accomplishments 
which were to fit them for the crowning honor of knighthood. 
Sir Walter Scott thus describes the requisites of such an 
education : — 

"Behind him rode two gallant squires, 

Of noble name, and knightly sires ; 

They burned the gilded spurs to claim, 

For well could each a war-horse tame, 

Could draw the bow, the sword could sway, 

And lightly bear the ring away ; 

Nor less with courteous precept stored, 
. Could dance in hall, or carve at board, 

And frame love ditties passing rare, 

And sing them to a lady fair." 

Marmion. 

When about to receive the highest honors of chivalry, the 
young noble fasted and spent several nights in prayer and 
watching in a church or chapel. On the appointed day, he 
went in procession to the church, castle hall, or court, where, 
in presence of knights and ladies, the honor was to be con- 
ferred. There, the candidate received his gilded spurs, his 
armor of mail, and his sword. Then the king, prince, or 
noble, who was to knight him, advanced, and giving the 
kneeling squire three gentle blows with the flat of his sword, 
said: "In the name of Grod, St." Michael, and St. George, I 
make thee a knight ; be thou brave, hardy, and loyal." 

Two orders of religious knights, known as the Knights of 
St. John, and Knights Templars, grew out of the singular 
combination of religious and military ardor which marked the 
Crusades. 

The Templars originated with a few knights who agreed to 
protect the defenceless pilgrims to Jerusalem from the perils 
of the way. They called themselves " Poor fellow-soldiers of 
Jesus Christ;" but, being lodged in a dwelling on the site of 



CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 89 

Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem, they soon became generally 
known as Knights Templars. They professed to unite the 
virtues of a monk with the duties of a warrior. 

The order of Knights of St. John, or Knights Hospitallers, 
began with a few charitable monks, who opened a hospital for 
sick and poor pilgrims at Jerusalem. The laudable zeal of 
both these orders awakened the admiration of all Europe, and 
the rich were never weary of bestowing upon them manors, 
lands, houses, and money, until, from being "poor fellow- 
soldiers of Jesus Christ/' these orders of military monks and 
religious knights became the wealthiest bodies in Europe. 
In London, their principal establishments were the hospital, 
priory, and church of St. John, and the beautiful buildings 
and circular church known as the Temple. 

The armor worn by the knights was made of little rings of 
iron or steel, sometimes sewed on leather, and so nicely linked 
that they fitted the body like a garment of flexible net-work. 
Indeed the word " mail," as applied to armor, is supposed to 
have come from a Latin word signifying the meshes of a net. 
The armor was always polished, and sometimes beautifully 
gilded. A suit consisted of many pieces, adapted to the dif- 
ferent parts of the body, and familiar to all under the names 
of helmet, vizor, breastplate, shield, gauntlets, greaves, &c. 
Scale armor consisted of small plates of iron, lapped over each 
other like the scales of fishes. In later times, heavier armor 
was made, called plate armor. On their shields the knights 
emblazoned -figures of animals, or emblematical devices, fre- 
quently surmounted by a motto. These were called coats-of- 
arms, and were adopted in order to distinguish one knight 
from another, which, when all wore armor, would otherwise 
have been well-nigh impossible. 

"Well was he armed from head to heel, 
In mail and plate of Milan steel ; 
But his strong helm of mighty cost, 
Was all with burnished gold embossed ; 
* * * a falcon on his shield, 
Soared sable in an azure field : 
8* 



90 - HISTORY Or ENGLAND. 

The golden legend bore aright, 
*Who checks at me to death is dightS "* 

Marmion. 

The amusements of these days were such as one might 
expect, when feats of arms were held in such high esteem. 
Those warlike games, known as jousts and tournaments, came 
into fashion in this century, and the passion for them conti- 
nued during several hundred years. 

Tournaments were generally proclaimed by some king, 
prince, or wealthy baron, at coronations, or on other great 
occasions. Noble knights and ladies were invited from all 
quarters, and the invitation was frequently extended to foreign 
countries. The chosen spot was fitted up with great magnifi- 
cence. The finest horses, the most splendid armor, and the 
richest dresses, graced the scene. When the combatants and 
spectators had assembled, and every knightly ceremony had 
been performed, the trumpets sounded, and the signal for the 
encounter was given. Then began the furious combat of 
mounted knights, and the ground resounded with the clanging 
of armor, the shivering of spears, and the trampling of horses. 

When the conflict ended, the names of the bravest knights 
were proclaimed by heralds, and the lady in whose behalf the 
chivalrous victor had displayed his prowess, rewarded him by 
the bestowment of a scarf or ribbon. Then followed the ban- 
quet, at which minstrels sang the praises of valiant knights 
and fair ladies. 

The banquets of the Normans were very luxurious and 
costly, although more temperate than the feasts of the Saxons. 
The boarV head was considered a dish for the royal table 
alone; and was brought in amid the sounding of trumpets, and 
placed on the board with every token of respect. The peacock 
graced the feasts of chivalry. After being roasted, this bird 
was decked again with its beautiful plumage, and a sponge 

* Dight means prepared. This was the motto over the device 
of the falcon on the knight's shield. 



CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 91 

dipped in burning spirits of wine was placed in its bill. Its 
appearance on the banquet-table was a signal for valorous 
youths to vow some deed of knightly daring. 

The office of cook in great families was frequently given in 
fief, and we hear of English estates being held by the sole 
tenure of dressing some dish peculiarly agreeable to the taste 
of the feudal lord. The Anglo-Normans had but two stated 
meals a day, as a proverb common among them bears witness : 

"Lever a cinque, diner a neuf, 
Souper a cinque, coucher a neuf, 
Fait vivre d'ans nonante et neuf." 

" To rise at five, to dine at nine, 
To sup at five, to bed at nine, 
Makes a man live to ninety-nine." 

One of the most remarkable peculiarities in the dress of the 
people in this century was their long-peaked shoes. They 
were often stuffed and twisted into the shape of a ram's horn, 
or a scorpion's tail. The clergy opposed this ridiculous fashion 
in vain, as also that of the long curled hair of courtiers. On 
one occasion, however, a Norman bishop preached before 
Henry I. and his court, against long hair, with such effect, 
that both monarch and nobles consented to cut off the highly- 
prized ornament. Fearing lest they should change their 
minds, the bishop forthwith produced a pair of shears, and 
with his own hands severed the offending locks. This did 
not, however, put an end to the fashion, which, together with 
the long-pointed shoes, continued to annoy the clergy a cen- 
tury later. 

The Norman clergy had a greater regard for learning than 
the Saxon churchmen ; and when the former settled in Eng- 
land, monasteries, with their schools and libraries, arose in 
great number. Learning, allowing for a few distinguished ex- 
ceptions, was almost entirely confined to the clergy. Henry I. 
won his surname of Beauclerc from his fine scholarship, and 
his son-in-law, Geoffrey of Anjou, was famed for his learning. 



92 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Ignorance prevailed among the great mass of the laity, nor did 
the nobles form an exception. On one occasion, Henry II. 
sent an embassy to the Pope, consisting of several bishops and 
four of the great barons of the realm. The clergy addressed 
the pontiff in Latin, and when they had finished, one of the 
barons said in English : " We, who are illiterate laymen, do 
not understand one word of what the bishops have spoken to 
your holiness." This, at a time when Latin was almost the 
only written language, showed great ignorance. 

During the twelfth century, the schools of Oxford and 
Cambridge began to rise into importance, and to take the 
name of universities. There was also a celebrated school at 
St. Alban's, and several in London, which in this century 
became the capital of England. To many distinguished 
writers of this age we are indebted for interesting and faithful 
histories. Among these may be named Henry of Huntingdon, 
William of Malmsbury, and Gerald Barry, called more com- 
monly by his Latin name, Giraldus Cambrensis, the latter 
name meaning " of Cambria," or Wales, of which country he 
was a native. 

The condition of the country during this period was, for the 
Norman conquerors especially, extremely insecure. The bold 
outlaws who had dwelt in the forests ever since the days of the 
conquest, grew especially famous in the reign of King Richard 
and his successor, under Robin H^od, who is said to have been 
none other than the outlawed Robert, Earl of Huntingdon. 
In the glades of Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood and his merry 
men, dressed in Lincoln green, with bugle-horn and silver 
baldrick, hunted, robbed, and ruled at will. v 

Professed champions of the English race, they are said never 
to have taken a penny or done a wrong to the Saxon; but, on 
the contrary, that the wealth of which they robbed many a 
Norman baron, was spent in relieving the wants of their 
oppressed countrymen. Certain it is, that the names of Robin 
Hood and the bold outlaws of Sherwood Forest, were long 
loved and revered by the English, and they still live in many 



CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 93 

a stirring ballad. The following may serve as a specimen 
of these popular compositions : 

" Kobin wisht well unto the king, 
And prayed still for his health, 
And never practiced anything 
Against the commonwealth. 

Only, because he was undone 

By the cruel clergy then, 
He did all he could think upon, 

To vex such kind of men. 

With wealth that he by roguery got, 

Eight almshouses he built, 
Thinking thereby to purge the blot 

Of blood which he had spilt. 

Nor would he injure husbandmen, 

That toil at cart and plough ; 
For well he knew wer't not for them, 

To live no man knew how. 

Full thirteen years, and something more, 

These outlaws lived thus ; 
Feared of the rich, loved of the poor: 

A thing most marvellous. 

In those days men more barbarous were, 

And lived less in awe ; 
Now, God be thanked, the people fear 

More to offend the law." 

Richard, Cceur-de-Lion, on his return to England, besieged 
and carried Nottingham Castle, the last stronghold which held 
for the treacherous John. He then made an excursion into 
Sherwood Forest, which, stretching from Nottingham into 
Yorkshire, over several hundred square miles, presented the 
largest and most beautiful tract of woods in England. Here 
he is said to have encountered the famous Robin Hood. 



94 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Ballad and romance weave many a pretty tale of the meeting 
between the king of England and the bold Saxon outlaws, 
who, " ranging the forest merry and free," escaped the op- 
pression of the Norman sway. 

" They showed such brave archery, 
By cleaving stick and wands, 
That the king did say, " Such men as they 
Live not in many lands." 

Questions. — Describe the castle of a feudal lord. — Describe the 
feudal village. — State the origin of chivalry. — What was the vow 
of a knight ? — Describe the accomplishments of a squire. — Describe 
the ceremony of knighting. 

Relate the origin of the Knights Templars and Knights of St. John. 
— What is told of their subsequent history ? — Describe the different 
species of armor worn. — What gave rise to the science of heraldry ? 
— Describe the tournament. — Give some account of the banquets 
of this age. — What is said with respect to their ordinary meals ? 

Describe the prominent peculiarities of dress in this age. — What 
is said of learning ? — What instance is given in proof of the general 
illiterateness of this period ? — What institutions of learning are 
mentioned ? — Give the names of some distinguished writers of this 
age. — Relate what is told of the Saxon outlaws. — Name the most 
famous of them. — Who is he supposed to have been ? — What is told 
of Richard I. in this connection ? 



KING JOHN. 95 



PART V. 
ENGLAND DURING THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

JOHN— HENRY III.— EDWARD I. 

A. D. 1199—1307. 

" Awed by his nobles, by his commons cursed, 
The oppressor ruled tyrannic where he durst, 
Stretched o'er the poor and church his iron rod, 
And served alike his vassals and his God." 

Pope. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

KING JOHN. 



WARS AGAINST PRINCE ARTHUR — QUARRELS WITH THE POPE— MAGNA 
CHARTA — CIVIL STRIPE. 

The thirteenth century is a very important and interesting 
one in English history, because it witnessed the signing of 
Magna Charta, that great safeguard of English liberty. The 
distinguishing characteristic of this charter is, that it grants 
equal civil rights to all classes of freemen, thus breaking the 
bonds of oppression under which the feudal vassal had so long 
suffered. 

By Magna Charta, the king and every feudal lord were 
forbidden to exact from their vassals the hard services and 
enormous sums of money which they had been in the habit 
of requiring. They were forbidden to tyrannize over their 
wards, in obliging them to marry against their will. This 
speeies of tyranny had been carried to such excess, that no 
less than seven thousand pounds were paid to Henry II. by 






96 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Maud, Countess of Warwick, that she might be allowed to 
marry whom she pleased. Lucia, Countess of Chester, the 
ward of King Stephen, paid nearly as great a sum to be per- 
mitted to remain a widow for five years. 

The freedom and rights of the city of London and other 
towns were secured to them, and the forest laws were miti- 
gated. No freeman was to be unlawfully imprisoned or ban- 
ished merely at the will of his feudal lord, nor was justice in 
regard to a prisoner to be denied or delayed. As his person 
was not to be imprisoned at the will of another, so also was 
not the property of a freeman to be seized, nor any excessive 
fine laid upon it In no case were the implements necessary 
to each man's employment or calling to be taken in fine. 
The peasant was not to lose his plough or wagon, or tools, nor 
the merchant his wares, the scholar his books, nor the gentle- 
man his arms. In Wales, the harp was not to be taken in 
fine. To all classes of freemen, the liberty of person and 
property was secured. No one thought of bettering the con- 
dition of the villains and serfs. They are only alluded to 
once in this instrument, where they are spoken of among other 
property of the feudal ward, which was not to be wasted. 

The state of social freedom and security obtained by Magna 
Charta, was a great advance upon those rude and lawless 
times, when the vassal lay for months, it might be for years, 
in his lord's dungeons, without the hope of justice, or com- 
pelled to purchase his true and lawful right by the sacrifice 
of nearly all his property. On those bad times, too, when the 
peasant and the tradesman were liable to be robbed of all 
their earnings, and to become miserable outcasts. 

This great charter of English liberty was given in the reign 
of King John, who succeeded his brother Richard on the 
throne of England in the year 1199. 

He was as bad and treacherous a king as he had been a son 

and brother. The first part of his reign was spent in 

wars against the king of France, who had taken part 

with Arthur of Bretagne, the rightful heir to the throne, being 

the son of Geoffrey, King John's elder brother. Arthur's 



KING JOHN. 97 

grandfather, Henry II., was much attached to the young 
prince, and would have conferred upo i him his own name, 
but the Bretons, among whom he was born, insisted upon 
calling him Arthur, after the old British hero who had fought 
so bravely against the Saxons. The bards of Wales 

1187. . . 

and Brittany still repeated the prophecies of the 
fabulous Merlin, about Prince Arthur's coming back to restore 
them to freedom. This Celtic people loved the name of their 
national hero, and hoped that the young Arthur might free 
them from both French and English rule. 
1199 -^is war ? between nephew and uncle, desolated for 
to nearly three years the provinces of Brittany and Nor- 
mandy. At length, in 1202, Arthur was taken pri- 
soner by King John, and in a short time he disappeared. 
Many a horrible tradition of the manner of his death is related. 
The scene which Shakspeare so pathetically describes, as oc- 
curring between Prince Arthur and Hubert de Burgh, his 
gaoler, gives a painful, but no doubt a correct idea, of the 
cruel means which the wicked king took to rid himself of his 
innocent nephew. 

The crime of the English king was visited upon his own 
guilty head. It was in 1203 that the death of Arthur took 
place Three years later, King John was driven out of 
France : — of the duchy of Normandy, for nearly three hun- 
dred years the heritage of English kings, not a rood of land re- 
mained; and of all the fair French provinces which Henry II. 
had ruled, but a few castles were left to acknowledge the 
sovereignty of his weak son. 

King John was about as unwise as he was wicked. 
Whilst despised by his own subjects, and at war with 
France, he provoked another powerful enemy, by quarrelling 
with the Pope. Innocent III., at that time Pope, had ap- 
pointed Stephen Langton, a gifted Englishman, archbishop 
of Canterbury. King John, unmindful of the result of the 
struggle between the church and the crown, in a former and a 
firmer reign, refused to make Langton archbishop; and drove 
9 G 



98 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the monks of Canterbury from the land, because they held to 
the Pope's appointment. 

The Pope, in order to punish the king, laid Eng- 
land under an interdict : — that is, he interdicted, or 
forbade, the services and observances of the church. The 
country everywhere wore an aspect of mourning. The chimes 
of the church-bells were hushed ; the churches were closed j 
the images and pictures of saints were shrouded in black ; the 
dead were laid, without a prayer, in un consecrated ground; 
no marriages were performed, and everything was made to 
appear as though the curse of God rested upon the land. 

Although this sentence plunged England in gloom, it made 

but little impression upon the heart of the selfish king. He 

1309 employed the next few years in successful expeditions 

to against Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and in extorting 
from his subjects large sums of money for these 
enterprises. 

Finding that King John remained insensible to the inter- 
dict, the Pope pronounced against him a still more fearful 
sentence. It was called excommunication — or a cutting off 
from the communion and fellowship of Christians. A person 
excommunicated by the Pope was considered unholy : no one 
was allowed to go near him, to minister to his wants or to offer 
him any service. 

For a king to be excommunicated, was particularly dreadful 
in those days, for it was followed, as in the case of King 
John, by a sentence of dethronement. The Pope, claiming 
power from Grod for such a purpose, not only declared the 
subjects of an excommunicated sovereign free from their 
allegiance, but pronounced a blessing on any one who would 
take his life. Shakspeare does not overdraw the picture of 
papal arrogance, when he makes Pandulph, the Pope's legate, 
say to King John, 

"Then by the lawful power that I hold, 
Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate, 
And blessed shall he be that doth revolt 
From his allegiance to a heretic ; 



KING JOHN. 99 

' And meritorious shall that hand be called, 
Canonized and worshipped as a saint, 
That takes away by any secret course 
Thy hateful life." 

This fearful sentence appalled even the obdurate 
King John, and ,he prepared to make the humblest 
submission to the church of Rome. He laid the crown of 
England at the foot of the Pope's legate. He promised to 
make Langton archbishop of Canterbury, to pay the Pope a 
yearly tribute of one thousand ' silver marks, and to hold 
England as a fief of the Holy See. The sentence of interdict 
and excommunication was then recalled. 

About this time occurred the first engagement between the 
naval forces of France and England ; the occasion of which 
was as follows. Ferrand, an Earl of Flanders, and the most 
powerful vassal of France, demanded the restitution of certain 
Flemish towns, which had been annexed to the possessions of 
the French crown. On the refusal of Philip, Ferrand with- 
drew his aid from the expedition which that monarch was 
organizing for the invasion of England. The arms of France 
were now turned against the rebellious vassal. The earl, 
however, nothing daunted, invoked the succor of England, 
and the fleet which John had collected to repel the French 
invasion, set sail for the coast of Flanders. It bore to the 
assistance of the earl seven hundred English knights and a 
large body of infantry. The French armament lay at anchor 
on the coast. It was three times as numerous as the English, 
but many of the soldiers and sailors were on shore, engaged in 
plundering and laying waste the neighboring districts. 

This first naval encounter between the two nations, whose 
fleets have since met in hostile conflict in nearly every quarter 
of the globe, resulted in complete victory to the English. 
Three hundred prizes were sent home, and great joy diffused 
throughout the nation. 

The barons of England, wearied by the weakness, tyranny, 
and injustice of the king, formed a league against him. In a 
council held by them in London, Archbishop Langton read 



100 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the charter which Henry I. had given at the time of his 
accession. The barons determined to claim the rights therein 
granted, "and to conquer or die in support of their liberties." 

King John endeavored to resist the will of his subjects, by 
calling to his aid foreign soldiers, and by begging the inter- 
ference of the Pope. The latter wrote a threatening letter to 
the archbishop ; but this true-hearted Englishman wavered 
not, and gathering around' him the barons and free 
burghers of England, he persisted in claiming their 
rights. Joined by lords, knights, and citizens from all parts 
of the kingdom, they grew into a powerful body, calling them- 
selves "the army" of Grod and Holy Church." The king was 
forced to yield. 

Permitting them to name a time and place of meeting, the 
barons answered : " Let the day be the fifteenth of June, — 
the place, Runnymead." The name had been given in old 
Saxon times, and it signified meadow of council. In this 
quiet green spot on the banks of the Thames, not far frcfm the 
stately height crowned by the towers of Windsor Castle, met 
that great council of barons, with their king, to establish that 
precious safeguard of English freedom, known as Magna 
Charta. 

The Great Charta was signed by the monarch and his 
subjects, but treachery was in the heart of the former. No 
sooner was the deed done, than King John hastened to 
Windsor Castle, and there gave way to paroxysms of rage. 
Withdrawing from the society of his nobles, he went to the 
Isle of Wight, where he spent his time among the fishermen 
and mariners from foreign parts, adopting their manners and 
endeavoring by every means to draw foreign recruits to his 
aid. Troops of Brabanters and Flemings stole secretly into 
England, and the tyrant-king became strong enough to make 
war on those subjects to whom, but a few months previous, he 
had given promises of liberty. 

The kingdom was devastated by foreign soldiers, 

until the barons, in despair, invited Prince Louis, the 

son of the French king, to their aid. This young prince had 



KING JOHN. 101 

married a niece of King John, and in her right he laid claim 
to the English throne. With the aid of Louis, the barons 
defeated King John, and many towns surrendered to the 
prince. 

Like the early Norman conquerors, Louis began to confer 
manors and estates on his own French followers, little mindful 
of the interests of the English barons. This opened the eyes 
of the English to the folly of calling in foreign aid. Many 
deserted the French prince, and the royal cause began to 
strengthen, when King John died — a circumstance which 
greatly rejoiced his subjects, by whom he was universally 
hated and despised. 

Questions. — Mention the distinguishing feature of Magna Charta. 
— Name the various benefits secured by this instrument.— To whom 
alone were these rights granted ? — Repeat the only mention made 
of villains in Magna Charta. 

What was the character of King John ? — Relate the events of the 
first three years of his reign. — What reverses occurred after the 
death of Arthur ? — Recite the ground of John's quarrel with the 
Pope. — What sentences were issued against him by the pontiff? — 
Describe the interdict. — The excommunication. — How did the latter 
sentence affect John ? — Relate the terms of his submission to Rome. 

In what way did the barons show their dislike to the king ? — By 
whom were they supported ? — To whom did the king appeal ? — With 
what result ? — How did Langton treat the Pope's interference ? — 
Describe the further proceedings of the barons. — When and where 
was Magna Charta signed ? — Describe King John's subsequent con- 
duct. — To whom did the barons appeal ? — With what result? — What 
evil ensued ? — By what circumstance was this strife terminated ? 



9* 



102 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HENRY III. 

EARL PEMBROKE — HENRY'S FAVORITES — WARS OF THE BARONS. 

The church of Rome had taken part with the king of Eng- 
land against the French prince and the barons. And 
now that -King John was dead, the Pope's legate 
crowned John's eldest son, Henry, a boy ten years of age. 

Earl Pembroke was appointed protector of the kingdom. 
By his valor and wisdom, order was in some measure restored ; 
confidence in the royal authority was revived, and at the end 
of a year, Prince Louis had given up all hope of obtaining the 
English crown, and had gone back to France. In May of the 
year 1219, the good Earl Pembroke was laid in his tomb in 
the church of the Knights Templars. His wise hand no 
longer guided the helm of state, and the government was 
divided among those who quarrelled as to who should have 
the largest share. 

This state of things was but little bettered when 
the young and incapable Henry took the power into 
his own hands. He allowed himself to be governed by foreign 
and unworthy favorites, which evil was greatly increased in 
1236, by his marriage with Eleanor, daughter of the Count 
of Provence. She came into the kingdom with crowds of 
French followers, on whom the weak Henry bestowed riches 
and offices. 

The king's council, which had now begun to take the name 
of parliament, was summoned frequently by Henry III., who 
demanded of it supplies of money for the wars which he 
carried on with France. The parliament granted supplies, 
only on condition that the king should promise to observe 
Magna Charta, and to dismiss his foreign favorites. On one 



HENRY III. 103 

solemn occasion, Henry met the barons, prelates, and 
abbots at Westminster Hall. The clergy held lighted 
tapers in their hands, whilst the archbishop of Canterbury 
solemnly pronounced sentence of excommunication on all who 
should either directly or indirectly go contrary to the charters 
of the kingdom. When the sentence had been uttered, bish- 
ops and abbots threw their tapers on the earth, and as the 
smoke of the extinguished candles went up, they exclaimed : 
" May the soul of every one who incurs this sentence so be 
extinguished in hell !" To this, the king replied : " So help 
me Grod ! I will keep these charters inviolate, as I am a man, 
as I am a Christian, as I am a knight, and as I am a king, 
crowned and anointed." And yet, for all the solemnity of 
these vows, they were quickly broken ; for when the fear of 
God does not rule in the heart, the words of the lips, however 
solemnly uttered, are but little to be trusted. 

Despite all the difficulties which Henry had in raising 
money, he engaged in an expensive foreign enter- 
prise. The Pope, as feudal superior, claimed the 
disposal of the crown of Sicily. Not having a force sufficient 
to make good his claim against the king and people of that 
country, who -disputed it, the pontiff offered the rebellious 
kingdom to several European princes, on condition that they 
would subdue and hold it as a fief of the Holy See. Among 
others to whom this offer was made, was Richard, Earl of 
Cornwall, a brother of the English king. The earl declined 
the enterprise, telling the Pope that he might as well say : 
" I make you a present of the moon — step up to the sky and 
take it down !" 

King Henry had not the wisdom of his brother, and ac- 
cepted the crown for his son, Prince Edmund. The latter 
never received anything but the empty title of king of Sicily, 
but the Pope demanded of the English king one hundred 
thousand pounds for the expenses of the enterprise. Henry 
dared not refuse a creditor who could lay his kingdom under 
an interdict, or excommunicate and dethrone its sovereign. 
He therefore committed fresh acts of oppression to raise 



104 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

money. This time the churches of England and Ireland 
suffered so much, that the clergy became almost as hostile to 
the king as the barons were. One bishop, who was threatened 
with the loss of his office, in case he would not contribute to 
the debt, boldly threatened, if they took the mitre from his 
head, to supply its place with a helmet. 

The disorders and oppressions of the realm at length 

reached such a height, that the chief barons, with the 
Earl of Leicester at their head, forced Henry to place the con- 
trol of the kingdom into the hands of a committee of twenty- 
four bishops and nobles, twelve to be chosen by the king, and 
1263 twe ^ ve by the barons. This committee soon quarrelled 
to among themselves, and in a few years the country was 

plunged into all the miseries of civil war. 
At first the barons prevailed, and King Henry was made 
prisoner by the Earl of Leicester. Finally, however, in the 
year 1265, the royal cause, upheld by Prince Edward, gained 
a great victory at Evesham. Earl Leicester was killed in the 
battle, and, at the end of two years, the barons seem to have 
given up the struggle. 

When the spirit of rebellion was subdued, Prince Edward 
took the cross, and departed, with Louis IX., king of France, 
for the Holy Wars. Two years after his departure, his father, 
King Henry, closed his long life of sixty-eight years, during 
fifty-six of which he had been called a king. His body was 

laid in state in the abbey church of St. Peter's. 

Over the lifeless remains the barons swore fealty to 
the absent Edward. 

Questions. — When and by whom was Henry III. crowned ? — 
Describe the character of the protector. — State the results of his 
government. — What was the condition of the kingdom after his 
death? — What new evil did the king's marriage inflict? — What 
demands did Henry make of his parliament ? — On what condition 
were they granted ? — Describe the solemnity attending this promise 
on one occasion. 

Relate the foreign enterprise in which the king engaged. — What 
means did he take to raise money ? — What was the result ? — De- 



EDWARD I. 105 

scribe the conduct of Leicester and the barons. — To what did this 
lead ? — To which side did victory first incline ? — Which party finally 
prevailed ? — What expedition was then undertaken by Prince Ed- 
ward ? — What event occurred two years subsequently ? 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

EDWARD I. 

HIS RETURN FROM HOLY LAND — CONQUEST OF WALES — INVASION OF 
SCOTLAND. 

Prince Edward was in the Holy Land when his father 
died. A great and perilous distance lay between the 
new monarch and his crown. And yet, though ex- 
posed to all the dangers of war, and the yet greater dangers 
of his long homeward journey, perhaps no king since the con- 
quest had so tranquilly succeeded to his royal inheritance. 

Having revived the glory of Coeur-de-Lion on the plains 
of Palestine, Edward made a ten years' truce with the Sara- 
cens, and prepared to return to England. In Italy 
he met the messengers bearing to him the tidings of 
his father's death. He did not hasten homeward, but jour- 
neyed leisurely through Italy and France, everywhere receiv- 
ing marks of high honor. Presents of beautiful horses, of 
splendid raiment, and treasures of gold, silver, and jewels were 
lavished upon this last royal champion of the Holy Sepulchre. 
In Flanders, Edward lingered to settle a commercial dis- 
pute, which had lasted many years, between that country and 
England. The English were in the habit of selling wool to 
the Flemings, and receiving in return the dyed cloth. This 
had been a great trade between the two countries, but since the 
dispute had arisen, the English sent no more wool to Flanders, 
and as they did not understand dyeing it themselves, they 
were obliged to wear their coats of the original color of the 
fleece. The looms of their Flemish neighbors meanwhile 



106 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

were idle, for want of the raw material, so that the quarrel was 
a foolish and hurtful one to both countries. The Countess 
of Flanders, who had begun the difficulty, offered a public 
apology to the English king : harmony was restored, and the 
trade went on as before. 

In the year 1274, after an absence of four years, Ed- 
ward returned to his kingdom. He was warmly wel- 
comed by his subjects. " In London, " says an old chronicler, 
" the king and queen were received with all joy that might 
be devised. The streets were hung with rich cloths of silk, 
arras, and tapestry j the aldermen and burgesses of the city 
threw out of their windows handsfull of gold and silver, to 
signify the great gladness which they had conceived of his 
safe return ; the conduits ran plentifully with white wine and 
red, that each creature might drink his fill." Add to this 
description the fact that 19,660 capons and fowls, and over a 
thousand animals, were ordered to be served up at the corona- 
tion feast, and some idea may be formed of a royal reception 
in England six hundred years ago. 

The maintenance of such an extravagant court required a 
vast amount of money. Large sums were also demanded by 
the king for his military expeditions. Edward I. was no 
more scrupulous than other English monarchs had been, about 
raising pecuniary supplies. With regard to the Jews, his 
crusading zeal made him even less so. They were robbed, 
tortured, and put to death, on every pretext. Finally they 
were banished the kingdom. In the year 1290, over sixteen 
thousand of this persecuted race left England, to seek in still 
more cruelly-persecuting countries, a miserable existence. 

Among other means which the king took of filling his 
coffers, was the appointment of a committee to examine the 
title-deeds by which every great baron held his land. In the 
confusion of the times, many of these title-deeds had been 
lost; in which case Edward would seize the estate for the 
crown, only restoring it on the payment of a large sum of 
money. He did not, however, proceed far in this undertaking, 
for the barons, having guarded so zealously their liberties, 



EDWARD I. 



during the last two reigns, were not likely to let i 
this. When the commissioners applied to the Earl c 
renne, he answered, drawing his sword from its scabby 
"By this instrument do I hold my lands, and by the same A 
intend to defend them ! Our ancestors, coming into this 
realm with William the Norman, acquired their possessions 
by their good swords. William did not make a conquest 
alone, or for himself solely; our ancestors were helpers and 
participants with him \" 

Notwithstanding these somewhat arbitrary proceedings, 
Edward did much to reform the abuses abounding in the 
courts of justice. "In his time," says Sir Matthew Hale, 
" the law obtained a very great perfection." Corrupt judges 
were heavily fined and imprisoned. Sir Ralph de Hengham, 
the chief justiciary, being convicted of bribery, was sentenced 
to pay a large fine, and the money was expended in the 
erection of a Clock Tower in the Old Palace of Westminster. 
" Its intent was," says an old chronicler, " by the clock 
striking continually, to remind the judges in the neighboring 
courts to administer true justice, they calling thereby to mind 
the occasion and means of its building." 

Edward I. inherited to the full the ambition and love of 
conquest which distinguished the sovereigns of Norman and 
Plantagenet race. With him, however, this disposition took 
another direction than that of foreign dominion, which had 
been its prevailing manifestation with all this monarch's 
ancestors. The aim of Edward's life was to unite the whole 
of Great Britain and Ireland under one rule. The latter 
country had been partially conquered in the reign of his 
great-grandfather, Henry II., but North Wales was still 
unsubdued, and Scotland was an independent kingdom. 
^ kumfm It was against the Welsh that his arms were first 

1277. ° 

turned. This brave people made a noble stand for 
freedom. A hundred years before, a Cambrian chief had 
made the following reply, when questioned by Henry II. as to 
the conquest of his country : " King, your power may, to a 
certain extent, weaken and injure this nation, but utterly to 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

equires the anger of God. In the day of judgment 

. race, no other tongue than that of the Kyrurys,* will 

er for that corner of the earth to the sovereign judge." 

^niid the defiles of the mountains of Wales many an English 

army found a grave. But the ruthless Edward was not to be 

foiled. From the foot of the Pyrenees he brought the 

Basques, soldiers wont to penetrate even steeper and wilder 

fastnesses than those of Snowdon. They drove the Welsh 

from their strongholds, and the last bulwark of their freedom 

was invaded. Their king, Llewellyn, was slain in 

battle, and his head placed upon London Tower, 

encircled with a willow crown. Under Llewellyn's brother, 

David, the struggle continued, until that last royal champion 

of Welsh freedom was betrayed and carried in chains 

1283. J 

to Rhudhan Castle, where he was put to death by 
order of King Edward. 

Tradition says that the ancient British bards fell victims to 
this king's unsparing cruelty. The poet Gray, in his beauti- 
ful ode, " The Bard," makes one who survived the massacre 
of his race foretell the future misfortunes of the Plantagenet 
kings : 

" Weave the warp, and weave the woof, 
The winding-sheet of Edward's race." 

Dark indeed was the shadow cast upon the future of that 
monarch's eldest born, the first Prince of Wales, then an 
infant in Caernarvon Castle. 

Once again during this reign, under a brave leader, 
Madoc, the Welsh made an attempt to recover their 
freedom. Again the English soldiers scaled the heights of 
Snowdon, and desolated the Welsh valleys with fire and sword. 
The brave descendants of the Britons, who for centuries had 
resisted Saxon, Danish,- and Norman domination, were forced 
to yield their independence to the persevering valor of Ed- 
ward I. Though conquered, they have not been destroyed, 

* A name of the ancient Welsh. 



EDWARD I. 109 

nor have they changed their language for that of the con- 
querors. The "tongue of the Kymrys" still forms the speech 
of the greater proportion of the inhabitants of the principality 
of Wales. 

In the year 1291, King Edward was invited to 

settle a disputed succession to the crown of Scotland. 
The principal competitors were John Baliol and Robert Bruce. 
Edward, who aimed to bring Scotland under his own sway, 
decided in favor of Baliol, whose weak character fitted him 
to be a useful tool in the hands of the ambitious English 
monarch. The latter soon began to make such demands as 
awakened the country to rebellion. 
1396 Then rose the chief, Sir William Wallace, a name 
to celebrated in Scottish ballad and romance. For many 

years he resisted the arms of the English, but at 
length he was betrayed into the hands of his enemies. In 
London, on St. Bartholomew's day, this brave champion of 
Scotland's freedom perished on the gallows. 
" To Wallace succeeded "the Bruce," a name still more 
renowned in the annals of Scotland. Crowned king at Scone, 
by the hand of the Countess of Buchan, he raised a spirit 
which defied the power of the English king. At first Bruce 
was defeated, and obliged to flee before the army of England. 
For months he wandered an outlawed fugitive anions; the 
Scottish Isles. Returning to the mainland, and aided by a 
few bold followers, he repeatedly defeated the English. 

When Edward heard of the coronation of the Bruce, he set 
out for Scotland, vowing to accomplish its final conquest. 
The day previous to his departure was fixed upon for bestow- 
ing the honor of knighthood on the Prince of Wales. At the 
feast which followed this ceremony, two swans, covered with 
nets of gold, were placed upon the table by minstrels. The 
king, rising, swore a solemn vow, " to God and to the swans," 
that he would punish the rebellion of the Scots. Then turn- 
ing to his son and the assembled guests, he enjoined upon 
them, should he die in this expedition before accomplishing 
10 



110 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the object of it, to keep his body unburied, until his successor 
should have fulfilled this vow. 

After this foolish and half-heathen ceremony, the army 
began its march. The king, being in feeble health, 
was borne on a litter, and followed the troops by slow 
stages. He never reached Scotland, dying at a little village 
near its borders. On his death-bed, Edward implored his son 
to prosecute the conquest of Scotland, to give up foreign and 
evil companions, and under pain of his father's curse, never to 
restore to his confidence Piers Gaveston, who had been one of 
this prince's most unworthy favorites. 

Questions. — Describe the new monarch.' s homeward journey. — 
Relate the circumstances which led him to visit Flanders. — Describe 
his reception in the city of London. — What measures did he adopt 
for raising money ? — Relate the anecdote of the Earl of Warrenne. 

What ambitious project did Edward entertain ? — Repeat the speech 
of a Cambrian (or Welsh) chief to Henry II. regarding the conquest 
of Wales. — By what means did Edward succeed in subduing these 
mountaineers ? — Relate the fate of their last kings. — What is told 
of their bards ? — Repeat quotation from Gray. — Describe their final 
effort for independence and its result. 

By what circumstances was Edward enabled to interfere in the 
affairs of Scotland ? — To what did his conduct give rise ? — Give some 
account of Sir William Wallace. — Describe the career of Bruce. — 
Describe the ceremony observed by Edward prior to his final march 
for Scotland. — Repeat his dying commands to his son. 



ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. Ill 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

RELIGION — INDUSTRY — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS — LEARNING AND LEARNED 

MEN. 

The history of the church in England, during this century, 
is but the history of exactions and tyranny on the part of 
papal power, which was then at its height. 

One historian says, that the reason so few articles appear in 
Magna Charta, providing for church and clergy, though one 
of the framers of that instrument was an archbishop, is, that 
the power and wealth of the kingdom being so largely in their 
possession, there was nothing left for them to ask. We may 
well believe this, when we learn that almost one-half of the 
landed estates in England belonged to the church, and that 
the taxes which the Pope received yearly from this country, 
exceeded those paid to the crown. 

The churches were given to Italian priests. In many in- 
stances, the Pope would appoint to English livings, ail infant 
nephew, or a foreigner, who, residing in Italy, drew large 
revenues from his distant flock, without performing a single 
pastoral duty. 

During this period there arose the new religious orders, 
of mendicant or begging friars. There were the Dominicans, 
or Black Friars; the Franciscans, or Grey Friars; and the 
Carmelites, or White Friars. These were named respectively 
from the color of their dress. Shrouded in their cloaks and 
cowls, with a rope round the waist, and barefooted, they 
travelled about the country, professing great poverty and 
sanctity. They mixed with the multitude, preached to them, 
absolved them, and performed all the rites of the church with 
so much more zeal than any other order of clergy, that they 
won the hearts of the people, who flocked to them in every 



112 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

village. By the middle of this century the complaint arose, 
"that nobody confessed except to these new-fashioned monks- 
errant, and that the parish churches were deserted/' 

The sermons of these days were neither interesting nor 
profitable. From the Holy Scriptures, which Cardinal Lang- 
ton had apportioned into chapters and verses, the preacher 
chose his text. This was divided and subdivided, for, " the 
greater dexterity the speaker discovered in splitting his text 
into many parts," the greater divine and the better preacher 
was he esteemed. The heads of his discourse were equally 
multiplied, until the sermon became a mere curious and tedious 
play upon words. " May God," says Friar Bacon, " banish 
this conceited and artificial way of preaching out of His 
church ; for it will never do any good, nor elevate the hearts 
of the hearers to anything that is great or excellent." 

The Bible-Doctors, as those were called who studied and 
explained the Scriptures, were held in contempt, being con- 
sidered unlearned. Few said, "the entrance of thy word 
giveth light." No wonder, then, that it was an age of bar- 
barism, cruelty, and corrupt morals. 

Towards the close of this century, the power of the church 
received a check. By a statute of Edward I/s reign, it was 
provided, that every "clerk" (clergyman) charged with felony, 
should first be indicted in the king's court, and if found guilty 
there, he was not to be discharged in the church courts, by 
which he was subsequently tried, without due punishment. 

In the year 1279, a law was passed which put a check upon 
the great increase of the wealth of the clergy. This law for- 
bade that " any lands, tenements, or rents, should be given to 
any religious body, without license from the king had for that 
purpose." This was called "the statute of mortmain" be- 
cause, as the clergy «paid no taxes for their estates, they were 
said to pass into a " dead hand," when they were given to the 
church. 

Commerce in this century was checked by unwise laws, 
which grew out of the jealousy felt towards foreign merchants. 
At one time such were forbidden to remain in the country 



ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 113 

over forty days, or to sell their goods except at certain fairs. 
They had to pay large sums for the privilege of trading, and 
were often held accountable for crimes committed in the land 
by any of their countrymen. Notwithstanding these laws, the 
trading towns, and especially London, increased in prosperity. 
When Henry III. was advised to sell his plate and jewels to 
raise money, he asked : " Who will buy them V " The 
citizens of London, of course," was the reply. " By my 
troth," cried the king, "if the treasures of Augustus were 
put up for sale, the citizens would be the purchasers." 

The merchants and tradesmen formed themselves into asso- 
ciations for the protection and regulation of trade. These 
were called Guilds, and soon became wealthy and powerful 
bodies. 

A great part of the trade was carried on at fairs. These 
were often continued for a fortnight or longer at a time, and 
were frequented by crowds of people. The ground where the 
fair was held resembled a tented city of great extent. Goods 
of all kinds were exposed for sale, and kings and nobles sent 
thither to purchase jewels, plate, furniture, and horses. 

The principal articles exported from England were wool, 
leather, tin, and lead. There were certain merchants whose 
privilege it was to buy up these articles and carry them to 
specified towns, where the king's customs could be collected 
upon them, and where the buyers resorted to purchase. 
These towns were called staple-towns, those engaged in this 
business were named merchants of the staple, and in time r the 
articles thus sold took the name of staples. 

Besides the merchants of the staple, other merchant com- 
panies existed, such as "The Brotherhood of St. Thomas 
a Becket," and " The Company of the Lombards," which last 
were chiefly money-lenders. 

The German merchants probably originated the appellation 
of sterling to the currency of England. The Germans were 
called Esterlings, from the situation of their country, and as 
they coined most of the money, especially the silver pennies, 
these came gradually to be called Esterling or sterling pennies, 
10* H 



114 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

and good coinage in general became denominated sterling 
money. 

Church building and architecture occupied a large measure 
of the industry of this century. The most beautiful portions 
of the noblest church edifices in England — York Minster, 
Westminster Abbey, the cathedrals of Exeter, Winchester, 
Lichfield, and Ely — are either in whole or in part the work 
of this era. 

A brotherhood of architects, chiefly Italians, Germans, and 
Flemings, travelled from country to country, throughout 
Europe, rearing some of the most magnificent churches, 
monasteries, and religious houses, which the world has ever 
beheld. They were encouraged by papal bulls, and called 
themselves free masons. They pitched their tents or camp 
of huts near the building on which they were working. They 
were furnished, by the piety of neighboring noblemen, with 
carriages and materials, and in an incredibly short space of 
time arose those imposing structures, which, although five 
hundred years have passed away, remain monuments of the 
wondrous skill and religious devotion of the age which reared 
them. 

The churches, towards the close of this period, received a 
new and very useful addition, by the introduction of clocks. 
They were imported from the East, or were made in England 
by foreign artists. We hear of one, which cost four hundred 
pounds, being set up in the cathedral church of Canterbury, 
in 1292. 

The gloomy keeps of the barons received additions, which 
made them less like the sullen fortresses of a previous age. 
Henry III. ordered an apartment to be built for his daughter, 
which should have a raised hearth and chimney, and be fur- 
nished with glazed windows. Painted walls now came into 
fashion, and the embroidered tapestry-hangings were dis- 
placed. On the walls of a room in the Tower of London, was 
painted the history of Coeur-de-Lion's crusade to the Holy 
Land. The art of painting on glass had reached to great 
perfection, so that nearly every church could boast beautiful 



ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 115 

windows, on which were depicted, in exquisite colors, various 
sacred histories. 

To the castles and monasteries were attached extensive and 
highly-cultivated grounds. There was the herbary, devoted 
to the raising of medicinal herbs ; the vegetable or kitchen 
garden, the fruit-orchard, and frequently vineyards. The 
Normans, coming from a land rich in cultivation naturally 
sought to improve the soil of their new country. Among the 
fruit-trees, we find mention of apples, pears, cherries, and 
plums. No doubt the crusaders introduced some of the vege- 
table productions of the East, such as the damson plum, and 
the damask rose, which take their name from the beautiful 
vale of Damascus, of which they are natives 

The Anglo-Normans lost in this century their moderation 
in the pleasures of the table. During regular meals, there 
were delicate dishes served at intervals, called " intermeats." 
Whilst partaking of these the guests were entertained by 
species of theatrical exhibitions. The improvised lay of the 
troubadour was in great request at the courts of king and 
nobles. These wandering poets and musicians, called trouba- 
dours in France, minnesingers in Germany, and minstrels in 
England, exerted a powerful influence on the literature and 
manners of the age. 

The diet of the poorer classes was homely and plain. To 
the husbandman during harvest were given two herrings, 
milk from the dairy, and a loaf of bread a day. When the 
crops were harvested, each laborer had a supply of the pro- 
duce, which was to last him until the next season. Often the 
wasteful indulgence directly after harvest would cause famine 
or much suffering during the rest of the year. 

The extravagance in food among the rich was extended to 
the kindred luxury of dress. Gold and silk stuffs, velvet and 
furs, with abundance of costly ornaments, were the materials. 
But little taste was exhibited in the arrangement. The hair 
of the women was gathered under a network of gold, silver, 
or silk texture. Over it was worn a veil, and sometimes a 
round hat or cap. A neck-cloth wound two or three times 



116 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

round the neck, and fastened with pins on each side of the 
face above the ears, completed a head-dress, which must have 
made the women of the thirteenth century look very much 
like poor creatures suffering from mumps or toothache. 

Ermine was first used in Henry III.'s reign, for the lining 
of royal robes. The dresses of the clergy were very splendid. 
In this century the red hat was first worn by cardinals. 

Notwithstanding the distractions of war, there were those 
who paid no little attention to learning. Many of the colleges, 
which are the pride of the two great universities of England, 
were the work of this and the succeeding century. 

Although University Hall had been founded or endowed at 
Oxford by the great Alfred, four hundred years before, it had 
long fallen into decay, and the students of the universities 
were forced to rent private houses in which to lodge and 
pursue their studies. But now a most beneficial change took 
place. A refined and liberal patronage of learning induced 
many wealthy persons to build or endow edifices for the sole 
use of the masters and scholars of the universities. The 
erection and support of colleges now became as favorite an 
object with the rich, as the founding of churches and religious 
houses had hitherto been. Baliol College, named for the 
father of the Baliol whom Edward made king of Scotland, 
and Merton College, founded by "Walter Merton, bishop of 
Rochester, were erected at Oxford during the reign of 
Henry III. 

Nor were these halls of learning wanting in good and 
learned men. Many a worthy name graces the annals of this 
age, but none more deservedly famous than that of Roger 
Bacon, an Oxford friar. Whilst most of the learned men 
of his day were wrangling about words without knowledge*; 
discussing " how many angels could stand on the point of a 
needle," and other questions equally absurd, this humble friar 
was seeking to lead men to truth by experiment, and patient 
examination of the works of God, rather than by vain and 
foolish theories. Three hundred years were to pass before 
English scholars should entirely abandon these idle specula- 



ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 117 

tions, in pursuit of true science. Then the illustrious name- 
sake of the humble friar of the middle ages, Francis Bacon, 
Lord Verulam and Viscount St. Albans, became the father 
of experimental philosophy. 

Thirty thousand pounds were expended by Friar Bacon in 
scientific investigation and experiment. He discovered the 
art of making gunpowder, but never published it to the world, 
probably from a humane motive. After describing, in his 
writings, the effects produced by this dangerous compound, 
he gives the list of ingredients. In doing this, he transposes 
the letters of the Latin words which signify charcoal, in such 
a way as to render the description obscure, whilst making it 
perfectly certain, whenever the secret should be discovered, 
that it had already been in the good friar's possession. He 
invented reading-glasses and various mathematical instru- 
ments. 

Owing to the ignorance and envy of the monks, Bacon was 
accused of being a sorcerer, and thrown into prison, where he 
languished for many years. He died in 1292. Michael 
Scott and John Duns Scotus were two famous mathematical 
and metaphysical scholars of that day. The former spent 
much time in the study of astrology and alchemy, so that the 
common people looked upon him as a magician. On men of 
genius and learning in that age it was the custom to bestow 
pompous titles, such as "the angelic doctor," "the subtile," 
" the singular and invincible," &c. 

To Matthew Paris, a .Benedictine monk of St. Alban's, we 
owe a very interesting history, which is chiefly remarkable for 
the boldness with which the tyranny of the Romish church is 
condemned. 

The condition of England was not more secure during this 
period, than it had been in previous ages. King Henry III. 
complained that in travelling through Hampshire, the bold 
robbers plundered his baggage, carried off his wine, and set 
his power at defiance. In Edward I/s reign a law was passed 
ordering the gates of all walled towns to be shut from sunset 
to sunrise ; a watch to be set, and eveiy stranger to be seized, 



118 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

unless the guest of a citizen. The highways between market 
towns were to be cleared for two hundred feet on either side, 
and no tree or bush left near the road, behind which a robber 
could lurk. Every one was ordered to provide himself with 
armor; the poor were to have bows and arrows at least. 
When a band of robbers was discovered, the nearest towns 
were to raise " the hue and cry." The word hue meant in 
those days, pursuit, and was taken from an old French verb, 
" huer," signifying, to pursue with shouting. 

Questions. — What reason is given for the slight allusion to the 
church in Magna Charta? — Describe the condition of the English 
churches in this century. — Name and describe the character of the 
mendicant monks. — Describe the style of preaching in this age. — 
Mention the checks which ecclesiastical power received towards the 
close of the century. 

What laws injurious to commerce were passed? — Describe the 
fairs of those days. — Relate the origin of the term "staples." — 
Likewise the origin of "sterling," as applied to currency. — Name a 
few specimens of the architecture of this age. — Who were the free 
masons? — Describe their plan of operations. — What improvements 
are mentioned in the dwellings of this century ? 

What is told of gardens and their products? — What entertain- 
ments were enjoyed by the nobles at their meals ? — Describe the 
fare and habits of the poorer classes. — Relate what is told of dress. — 
Describe the condition of the universities prior to this time. — Men- 
tion the colleges founded in this century. — Relate the account given 
of Friar Bacon. — Describe, the condition of the country. — By what 
laws was its better security provided for ? 



EDWARD II. 119 



PART VI. 
ENGLAND DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

EDWARD II.— EDWARD III.— RICHARD II. 

A. D. 1307—1399. 

" With Edward's acts adorn the shining page, 
Stretch his long triumphs down through every age, 
Draw monarchs chained, and Cressy's glorious field, 
The lilies blazing on the royal shield." 

Pope. 



v CHAPTER XX. 

EDWARD II. 

GAVESTON — BANNOCKBURN — CIVIL STRIFE — DEPOSITION OF THE KING. 

Edward began bis reign by disobeying the dying com- 
mands of his father. In a few months he committed 

1307. 

the late king's remains to a tomb in Westminster 
Abbey: he made but a feeble pretence of carrying on the 
war in Scotland, and he recalled Gaveston from banishment, 
and loaded him with riches and honors. 

This young man was handsome, brave, and accomplished ; 
but he was a foreigner. He had unbounded influence over 
the king, and the highest honors which a subject could 
receive were bestowed by his royal master, to the exclusion 
of the hereditary nobility of the realm. Twice compelled 
by parliament to banish him, Edward as often recalled and 
restored him to his honors and estates. 

At length Gaveston fell into the hands of his enemies. In 
the hall of Warwick Castle he was condemned by a council 



120 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 

of those English nobles, whom in the day of his power he had 
despised and ridiculed. On Blacklow Hill, a gentle knoll 
that rises from the river Avon, the head of the haughty- 
favorite bowed beneath the executioner's axe. 

Taking advantage of the weakness of the English king, 

Robert Bruce, his brave brothers and friends, Edward Bruce, 

Randolph, Douglas, and the Steward of Scotland, 

to were fast recovering the liberty of their country. 

By force or guile, castle after castle had fallen into 

their hands. 

At length the English king was roused to exertion. "With 
one of the largest and finest armies ever raised in England, 
he set out for the Scottish border. At the little burn (brook) 
of Bannock, about two miles from Stirling, Bruce, with hardly 
forty thousand men, prepared to encounter this mighty array. 
The night before the battle was spent by the Scottish army 
in devotion. As the English king gazed upon this inferior 
force, kneeling on the greensward, in the attitude of prayer, 
he exclaimed : " See ! they kneel ! they cry for mercy V 
" They kneel, indeed, my liege," was the reply, " but not to 
you • they cry for mercy ; but it is to heaven. On that field 
they will conquer or die V 

And on the field of Bannockburn, they did conquer, and 
bravely too. The day before the regular action, Bruce, by a 
brilliant deed of valor, done in the sight of both armies, 
cheered the spirits of his men. As he reviewed his troops, 
riding on a palfrey, with battle-axe in hand, and the crown 
of Scotland surmounting his steel helmet, an English knight, 
armed cap-a-pie, galloped forward on his heavy charger, and 
challenged him to single combat. With one blow of his 
battle-axe, Bruce laid the proud antagonist at his feet. In 
the general battle, which occurred on the 24th of June, the 
conflict was long and bloody. When the Scottish shout of 
victory arose, two hundred English knights, seven hundred 
squires, and thirty thousand of the common soldiers, lay dead 
upon the field. After the battle of Bannockburn, Stirling 
Castle, the great stronghold of English power, surrendered. 



EDWARD II. 121 

Border warfare was carried on between the two countries, 
with scarcely an interval of peace, until 1323, when a truce 
of thirteen years was concluded. 

The king's misgovernment and passion for favorites roused 
a rebellion, headed by the Duke of Lancaster. At Borough- 
bridge, the two parties had an encounter, in which Lancaster 
was defeated, and compelled to surrender. He was put to 
death by order of the king, who regarded him with especial 
enmity, for the part he had taken in the death of Glaveston. 
Among the prisoners at Boroughbridge was one Roger Mor- 
timer. He was thrown into the Tower of London, and there 
lay under sentence of death. Making his guards 
drink to intoxication, he escaped their vigilance. 
Climbing the chimney, he let himself down by a ladder of 
ropes, and crossing the Thames in a wherry, mounted a fleet 
horse, prepared by friends who awaited him, and escaped to 
the coast, whence he crossed over to France. 

Edward's queen, Isabella, the sister of the French king, 
was one of the most beautiful women in Europe, but she was 
unprincipled, and her husband's neglect had so excited her 
evil passions, that she was fully prepared to take part with his 
enemies. In the year 1325 she went to France, under pre- 
tence of settling some dispute which had arisen between her 
husband and her brother, the king of that country. There 
she was joined by Roger Mortimer. A host of enemies was 
raised against the English monarch, and Isabella, placing 
herself at their head, entered England, where she was hailed 
as a deliverer. 

Never was English king so entirely deserted by all 
classes of his subjects. He became a fugitive among 
the mountains of Wales ; but even there, in the land of his 
birth, none gathered to the standard of Edward of Caernar- 
von. Surrendering himself into the hands of a brother of 
the murdered Duke of Lancaster, he became a prisoner in 
Kenilworth Castle. 

In January, 1327, parliament met at Westminster, The 
queen and her son, Edward, Prince of Wales, were present. 
11 



122 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

A declaration was read, dethroning Edward II. Not one 
voice arose in his defence. Amid the joyous acclamations of 
the people, barons and prelates took the oath of allegiance to 
his son. In the great hall of Kenilworth Castle, the dis- 
crowned, dishonored king, wrapped in a coarse black robe, 
received the deputation sent to tell him that he no longer 
swayed a sceptre. 

When the Speaker of parliament had read the sentence, the 
steward of the royal household broke the white wand of office, 
a ceremony usually performed at a king's death, to signify that 
his royal dignity exists no more 

It was in the reign of Edward II. that the Order of Knights 
Templars was suppressed. This order had been established 
in the twelfth century by nine poor crusaders for the protec- 
tion of Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem. .From a state of 
humility and poverty they had become, during the lapse of 
two centuries, one of the wealthiest and proudest orders of the 
Roman church. The first monarch who ventured to attack 
them was King Philip of France. Coveting their vast 
possessions, he first accused them of enormous crimes, and 
then proceeded to arrest and imprison them. The most 
atrocious cruelties were perpetrated against these unfortunate 
men. They appealed in vain to the Pope for protection, and 
finally perished at the stake. 

In England the suppression of the order was unattended by 
this barbarous cruelty, but the members were deprived of their 
possessions, shut up in monasteries, and there passed the 
remainder of their lives, on a scanty pittance allowed by the 
king, from the revenues of which he had deprived them. 
The fate of the English monarch must have seemed to the 
Templars a fitting punishment for this deed of violence. 

The unfortunate Edward after his dethronement remained 
for a time at Kenilworth, where the Earl of Lancaster dealt 
kindly by his prisoner. This alarmed the queen, who, with 
Lord Mortimer, now ruled the kingdom, and she caused her 
husband to be committed to a harsher jailorship in Berkeley 
Castle. 



EDWARD III. 123 

One autumn night, fearful shrieks resounded through the 
walls of the building. The next day, Edward of 
Caernarvon was found dead. His cruel murderers 
reported that he had been carried off during the preceding 
night, by a violent disorder. The people were not deceived, 
and the towers of this castle on the Severn have ever since 
been invested with a melancholy interest. 

Questions — By what acts of filial disobedience did this king begin 
his reign?— Kelate the career of Gaveston. — Name the principal 
champions of Scottish freedom. — What success had they obtained? — 
Relate the account given of the battle of Bannockburn. 

Mention the result of the rebellion under Lancaster. — Relate the 
peril and escape of Mortimer. — Describe the character and conduct 
of Edward's queen. — How was she received and regarded in Eng- 
land? — What misfortunes befell the king? — Describe the scene of his 
deposition. — Relate the manner in which the sentence was made 
known to him. — Describe the treatment he received subsequently. — 
Where and under what circumstances did he die? 



CHAPTER XXL 

EDWARD III. 



OVERTHROW OP MORTIMER — CLAIM TO THE FRENCH CROWN — WARS IN 
FRANCE. 

Eight months before his father's death, the young Edward, 
a lad of fourteen years, was crowned king. A council 
of twelve of the greatest lords of the realm was ap- 
pointed by parliament "to have the rule and government ;" 
but the real power and rule lay in the hands of Queen Isa- 
bella and Lord Mortimer. 

When Isabella was on the continent, raising a party to 
oppose her husband, she had been kindly received by the 
Count of Hainault, who affianced his daughter Philippa to 
her son, then Prince of Wales. This betrothal was, perhaps, 



124 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the only good thing which came of the intrigues of the wicked 
Isabella. The marriage took place with great pomp 
in January, a year after the young Edward had 
become king. 

Two years later, Edward III., having reached the age of 
eighteen, determined to put an end to the power of Lord 
Mortimer, and to take the government into his own hands. 
The parliament was assembled at Nottingham. The queen 
mother, her son, and Mortimer were there, lodging in the 
strong castle. From the fears which an evil conscience 
brings, Isabella had surrounded the building with a guard, 
and every night she caused the keys of the ponderous castle 
gates to be laid by her bedside. The governor, however, 
being bribed, conducted Edward's party by a secret under- 
ground passage into the very halls of the castle, where they 
were joined by the young king and his retinue. 

Bursting into the room in which, at that midnight hour, 
Isabella's evil counsellors were busy in " anxious consultation/' 
they seized the guilty lords, and, notwithstanding the queen 
mother's tearful entreaties to " spare her gentle Mortimer," 
he was hurried from her presence, and shortly after put to 
death. Isabella, shut up in the Manor House of Rising, 
passed there the remaining twenty-seven years of her life. 
Edward was now the real master of his kingdom. 

In Scotland, the great Bruce was dead. His brave friend, 
Lord James Douglas, whilst bearing his master's heart, in 
compliance with a dying request, to the Holy Land, was slain 
by the Moors in Spain. Kandolph too was dead, and the 
young David, the only son of King Robert, was left almost 
without a champion to secure the crown on his young head. 

Edward III., taking advantage of these circumstances, 
secretly stirred up a pretender to the Scottish throne, in the 
person of Edward Baliol, a son of the weak John Baliol, 
whom his grandfather had made king. As long as 
English arms supported his cause Baliol reigned, but 
no sooner were they recalled, than the indignant Scots drove 
him from his throne. At length, King Edward, having a 



EDWARD III. 125 

more tempting prize in view, withdrew his attention from 
Scotland. 

This prize was nothing less than the French crown, to 
which Edward laid claim as the son of a French princess. 
By a law, called the Salique law, no woman can reign in 
France. Edward contended that, although his mother could 
not become queen, he might inherit the crown through her ; 
and as Isabella's three brothers had died, leaving no sons, he 
claimed to be the rightful heir. The French argued differ- 
ently — that the throne could descend only through a male 
line of succession. They, therefore, had crowned Philip of 
Valois, the son of Isabella's uncle. 

The idea of a French war, especially for such an 
object, was highly popular, and Edward found little 
difficulty in raising a large army. Parliament granted money, 
called subsidies, when given for such purposes. The tin of 
Cornwall and Devonshire, and the wool throughout England, 
was seized, and even the crown jewels were pawned to raise 
the large amount required to equip the fleet and army, and to 
pay the king's allies on the continent. 

Little of importance was done in the French war until 1346, 
a year made memorable by the famous battle of Crecy In Au- 
gust of that year the English king was advancing through the 
northern provinces of France with an army of thirty thousand 
men, seeking to join his allies in Flanders. The French, with 
a vastly superior force, opposed his march. With desperate 
valor, having fought his way across the river Somme, in face 
of the enemy, Edward encamped on a gentle eminence near 
the village of Crecy, and there awaited the arrival of Philip, 
with the main army of the French. 

" I have good reason to wait for him on this spot," said 

King Edward. "lam now upon the lawful inheritance of my 

lady mother — upon the lands of Ponthieu, which were given 

to her as her marriage portion, and I am resolved to defend 

them against my adversary, Philip de Valois." His army 

was but a handful compared with the French host; 

but the men were refreshed with food and rest and 

11* 



12(5 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

cheering words, and on the morning of the 26th of August 
were ready to meet their enemies. Of the latter the chronicler 
Froissart says : "No man, unless he had been present, can 
imagine the bad management and disorder of the French, 
whose troops were innumerable." - As they were advancing 
in this tumultuous confusion, King Philip, at sight of the 
English, cried out : " Order the Genoese forward, and begin 
the battle, in the name of God and St Denis l" 

The Genoese were famous cross-bow-men, and were much 
relied upon for skill and bravery But on this occasion they 
were fatigued by a long march; their bows were injured by 
a shower of rain, and they were more than matched by the 
well-skilled archery of the English yeomen. From a neigh- 
boring hill King Edward watched the progress of the battle 
Foremost and bravest in the action was his son, the Prince 
of Wales, called " The Black Prince," from the color of his 
armor. Although but fifteen years of age, he displayed the 
valor of an old and war-tried veteran. 

Seeing the young Prince in deadly conflict with a host of 
enemies, the Earl of Warwick sent to the English king to 
request aid for the noble boy. "Is my son wounded, or 
thrown to the ground?" demanded the king. "No, sire, 
please God, but he is hard beset," replied the messenger. 
" Then return to those who sent you, and tell them, he shall 
have no help from me. Let the boy win his spurs ; for I am 
resolved, if it please God, that this day be his." Such was 
the royal father's answer, and his brave son won the day. 

The French fell by thousands. At night, with scarcely 
more than sixty followers, Philip fled from the field. Riding 
to the castle of one of his vassals, he demanded admittance. 
The chatelain, or o-overnor, asked who cried at such an hour. 
" Open, open, chatelain; it is the fortune of France !" replied 
the fugitive monarch. Only stopping for some slight refresh- 
ment, the king, at midnight, continued his flight, until he 
found a place of safety at Amiens. 

The English, meanwhile, were rejoicing over one of the 
greatest victories ever gained on a battle-field. King Edward, 



EDWARD III. 127 

embracing his son in presence of the army, said, " Sweet son, 
Grod give you good perseverance. Loyally you have acquitted 
yourself this day, and worthy are you of a crown !" Among 
those who fell on the side of the French, was the old and 
blind king of Bohemia. He had been led into the action 
between two knights. His crest of three ostrich feathers, 
with the motto, " Ich dien" (I serve), was adopted by the 
Black Prince, and has ever since been the crest of the Princes 
of Wales. 

After the battle of Crecy, Edward laid siege to 

1346. * J: G 

Calais, one of the strongest of the French towns. 
His large fleet blockaded the harbor, whilst, on the land side, 
he surrounded the town with wooden huts filled with soldiers. 
The inhabitants, hoping for aid from King Philip, would not 
surrender. 

Meanwhile to the English army came news of a great 
victory gained over the Scots, in which their king, David 
Bruce, was taken prisoner. Queen Philippa, it is said, was 
present ,on this occasion, and animated the troops by her words 
of courage and cheerfulness. When she had seen her royal 
captive safely lodged in the Tower of London, the English 
queen joined her husband in France. The siege of Calais 
went on ; and as no provisions could enter the town, the con- 
dition of the citizens was dreadful. The governor turned out 

seventeen hundred people, old men, women, and 

1347. r r j 3 3 

children, " useless mouths/' as they were called in 
the cruel language of war. Edward treated these wretched 
people kindly, gave them food, and a small supply of money, 
and sent them into the country. Another body of five hun- 
dred, whom the governor turned out, Edward could not pro- 
vide for, and they perished miserably between the walls of 
the town and the English camp. 

At length, reduced by famine, Calais offered to surrender. 
The English king demanded that six of the chief citizens 
should present themselves, bareheaded and barefooted, with 
ropes round their necks, and deliver up to him the keys of 
the town. On these he should do his will; and on these 



128 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

conditions alone would he spare the lives of the people. Alas ! 
for the cruelty of those who called themselves Christian 
knights — gentle and chivalrous. 

In the market-place of Calais this message was 
received by the people with dismay and bitter lament- 
ations. Of those who had so nobly borne the horrors of the 
siege, whom should they sacrifice ? Such was the painful 
dilemma when, according to the quaint narrative of the 
chronicler Froissart, u the most wealthy citizen of the town, 
by name Eustace de St. Pierre, rose up and said : ( Gentlemen 
both high and low, it would be a very great pity to suffer so 
many people to die through famine, if any means could be 
found to prevent it; and it would be highly meritorious in 
the eyes of our Saviour, if such misery could be averted. I 
have such faith and trust in finding grace before Grod, if I 
die to save my townsmen, that I name myself as first of the 
six! 7 

" When Eustace had done speaking, they all rose up and 
almost worshipped him : many cast themselves at his feet, 
with tears and groans. Another citizen, very rich and re- 
spected, rose up and said he would be the second to his 
companion Eustace. His name was John Daire. After him, 
James Wisant, who was very rich in merchandise and lands, 
offered himself, as companion to his two cousins : as did Peter 
Wisant, his brother. Two others then named themselves, 
which completed the number demanded by the king of 
England. Then there arose the greatest sorrow and lament- 
ation all over the town, and in such manner were they 
attended to the gate, which the governor ordered to be 
opened, and then shut upon him and the six citizens, whom 
he led to the barriers of the English camp." 

Soon these magnanimous townsmen of Calais were in the 
presence of the English king, imploring mercy. Edward 
commanded that their heads should be struck off. The 
noblest of the English courtiers begged their master to show 
more pity : he would not listen, and only repeated — " Let the 
headsman be summoned." Then Queen Philippa fell on her 



EDWARD III. 129 

knees before him, and with tears pleaded with her husband 
to spare the lives of these devoted men. At this Edward's 
wrath-steeled heart was touched. " Dame," he exclaimed, 
" I wish you had been somewhere else ; but I cannot refuse 
you. I put them at your disposal." 

Shortly after the surrender of Calais, a truce was made 
with France, and Edward returned to England. The truce, 
which was to last less than a year, was prolonged, owing to a 
fearful pestilence which spread over Europe during the years 
1348 and 1349. This pestilence, known as the plague, com- 
menced in China, and, travelling westward over the deserts 
and wilds of Asia, swept through the countries of the Levant, 
desolated Greece and Egypt, and thence pursued its fearful 
1 track through Germany and France, appearing in London in 
1348, and soon penetrating into every province of England. 
Nearly, if not quite, one-half of the population of the country 
was carried off, and when this great pestilence had ceased, 
there were " scarcely hands enough left to till the soil," so 
frightful had its ravages been among the poor. 

In the year 1355, war was renewed in the south of France. 
There, in the ancient duchy of Aquitaine, the Black Prince 
had established his court. From his capital of Bordeaux, on 
the banks of the Garonne, in July of 1356, Prince Edward, 
with a small army of twelve or fourteen thousand men, 
marched northwards, burning and destroying on his route. 
This wanton destruction so angered the French, that no 
peasant could be found to inform the Black Prince of the 
whereabouts of the French army. Consequently, the slender 
forces of Prince Edward encountered, without any forewarning, 
the mighty hosts of his enemies at the little village of Poictiers 
" God help us !" exclaimed Edward; '• we must now consider 
how we can best fight them." 

Like his father at Crecy, he chose his position with admi- 
rable prudence. The Cardinal Talleyrand, a legate of the 
Pope, labored to make peace between the parties. The 
French king (John), confident in his large army, would listen 
to no terms short of the surrender of the prince and one 

I 



130 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

hundred of his bravest knights. Of course, these demands 
were treated with scorn by the chivalry of England, and on 
the 19th September, 1356, the two armies joined battle. 

It was as hardly-won a field as had been that of Crecy, ten 
years before. Victory rested with the English, and at the 
close of the day the French king was a captive in the 
hands of a noble enemy. The Black Prince treated 
him with the gallantry which became a Christian knight. 
The following year they entered London, the royal captive 
riding on a cream-colored charger, richly caparisoned, whilst 
his conqueror rode beside him on a small black palfrey, in the 
character of a page. 

During all these years the war in Scotland, with but a few 
intervals of truce, had been carried on. The son of the great 
Bruce had not the patriotism of his father. After becoming 
the prisoner, he became the tool of the English king, and 
even aided Edward's designs of placing one of his sons, an 
English prince, upon the throne of Scotland. These projects 
failed. In 1371, David Bruce died, and his nephew, Robert 
the Stewart of Scotland, succeeded peaceably to the throne. 
He was the first of the House of Stuart who wore a royal 
crown : the first of that unhappy line of princes, whose reigns, 
whether in England or Scotland, were one series of mis- 
fortunes. 

After the death of King John of France, Charles, sur- 

named " the Wise," succeeded to the throne of that country. 

The war with England was renewed. It was con- 

1369. & 

ducted with so much valor and ability on the part of 
the French monarch and his generals, that by the year 1374, 
the English were forced to make peace. By the terms of the 
treaty, the king of England kept only Bordeaux, Bayonne, 
and a few other towns in the south of France, with Calais, 
and a small portion of the country about it, in the north. 
Edward III. was wont to say of Charles the Wise, " that he 
had never known a king fight so little, and yet give so much 
trouble." 

On Trinity Sunday, of the year 1376, the Black Prince 



EDWARD III. 131 

died. The great estimation in which he was held was mani- 
fested by the grief of the nation on this occasion. They 
seemed to feel that with him the glory of England had 
departed. He was buried with great pomp in the cathedral 
church at Canterbury, not far from the shrine of Thomas 
h Becket. On the death of the Black Prince, his son, 
Richard, became heir apparent to the throne. 

The aged King Edward survived the loss of his beloved 
child but a single year. He died at his manor house of 
Shene, in June, 1377. The death-bed scene of this great 
monarch resembled that of his ancestor, the Conqueror. 
Nobles and courtiers hastened from it to surround the young 
Prince Richard. Edward was left with an attendant, who, 
after stealing from his finger a valuable ring, left him to die 
alone. A priest then came to his bedside, and stood holding 
a crucifix before him till he had breathed his last. 

Questions. — By whom was the kingdom ruled when Edward III. 
was crowned king ? — To whom was the young king married ? — 
Relate the overthrow of the queen and Mortimer. — What was the 
condition of affairs in Scotland? — Describe Edward's conduct to- 
wards this kingdom. 

What new ambition withdrew him from Scotland? — On what 
grounds did Edward claim the crown of France? — How was the 
prospect of war regarded in England ?— Relate the circumstances 
which led to the battle of Crecy.— Describe that battle.— What were 
its results to the French ? — Relate what is told of the siege of Calais, 
and its surrender. 

What calamity befell Europe during the years 1348-9? When 

and in what part of France was war renewed ? — Describe the battle 
of Poictiers.— What were the results of this battle ? — What was the 
state of affairs in Scotland at this time ? — What was the condition 
of the war in France between the years 1369 and 1374?— What 
event probably hastened the king's death?— When, where, and 
under what circumstances did it occur? 



132 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

RICHARD II. 

wat tyler's insurrection — misgovernment — bolingbroke usurps 
the crown. 

The affection of the nation for the Black Prince seemed, 
from the time of his death, to centre almost with the strength 
of idolatry in his young son, Richard of Bordeaux. He was 
so named from his birthplace, his father's beautiful capital on 
the banks of the Garonne. The people gave full scope to 
these feelings at the coronation of Richard, and paid to this 
boy-king, not yet eleven years old, more nattering homage 
than ever his grandfather, the great Edward, had 
received. This excess of flattery did its evil work 
upon the heart of the young monarch. 

One of the king's uncles was the Duke of Lancaster, better 

known as "John of Gaunt," because of his birthplace at 

Ghent in Flanders, which in those days was pronounced 

Gaunt. This nobleman was extremely ambitious. He had 

married a Spanish princess, and in right of his wife laid 

claim to the crown of Spain. He was also strongly suspected 

of a design to supplant his nephew, and make himself king 

of England. 

1378 The Scots, taking advantage of the youth of the 

to king, made forays across the border. War, too, was 

138 °* carried on with France. To raise money to repel 

these enemies, as the kingdom was already exhausted by the 

wars of the previous reigns, parliament laid heavy taxes on 

the people. 

One of these taxes was particularly odious. It was a poll- 
tax. The sum of three groats was to be paid by every person 
in the kingdom over fifteen years of age. The manner of 
collecting this money was in many instances harsh, and the 



RICHARD II. 133 

common people, already more alive to a sense of their wrongs 
than they had been in any previous century, rose in rebellion. 
In Essex, the peasantry armed themselves under a riotous 
fellow, named, from his occupation, that of a thresher, " Jack 
Straw," and, calling themselves " the true commons of Eng- 
land," committed many acts of violence. 

In Kent, one of the tax-gatherers entered the house of 
Walter the Tyler, and demanded the tax for his daughter, a 
young girl, who, her mother said, was under the specified age. 
The tax-gatherer insisted on collecting the money, and became 
so insolent, that the father of the child fell upon him and 
killed him. Soon Walter, or Wat Tyler, as he is usually 
called, became the leader of a mob of peasantry, and marched 
with them towards London, committing no small amount of 
violence on the road. A body of nearly one hundred thou- 
sand of these insurgents encamped at Blackheath, 
where their passions were inflamed by the preaching 
of a Kentish monk, who, taking for his text the old adage, 

"When Adam delved and Eve span, 
Where was then the gentleman ?" 

told them that all should be rich alike : that there should be 
no upper classes, &c. 

Entering London, this rabble destroyed the beautiful Savoy 
palace, the residence of John of Gaunt; they drank the wines 
found in the duke's cellars, and, becoming still more infuriated 
by liquor, proceeded to demolish the Temple, the Priory of 
the Knights of St. John, and other ancient and beautiful 
buildings. The insurgents had always professed affection for 
the young king, accusing his uncles and ministers of all the 
oppressions in the kingdom. Richard now sent them word 
that he would meet them at Mile-End, and listen to all their 
complaints. 

About sixty thousand of the rioters kept this appointment, 
but Wat Tyler and a large body of the peasantry of Kent 
were not present. The insurgents demanded " the total abo- 
12 



134 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

lition of slavery for themselves and their children for ever ; 
the reduction of the rent of good land to fourpence an acre ; 
the full liberty of buying and selling like other men in all 
fairs and markets; and a general pardon for all past offences." 
The king not only listened to these demands, but forthwith 
set thirty clerks to write out charters, in which all they asked 
was granted. 

The following day, as the king rode into Smithfield, he met 
Wat Tyler and the other rebels, who had not been present at 
the meeting at Mile-End. Wat Tyler, turning to his men, 
said: "Here is the king; I will go speak with him." So 
saying, he rode boldly up, and, it is said, seized the bridle of 
the king's horse. At this moment, Walworth, the, mayor of 
London, plunged a dagger into the insurgent's throat. When 
his followers saw Wat Tyler fall, they cried : " We are be- 
trayed ! they have killed our captain and guide !" For once, 
Richard displayed the courage and spirit of his ancestors. 
Riding up to the rebels, he exclaimed : " What are ye doing, 
my lieges! I am your king, and I will be your leader!" The 
rebels were subdued. Some laid down their weapons, and 
others fled. 

Not thus, however, did the matter end. The king raised a 
body of forty thousand horse, and then informed the insur- 
gents " that all his charters meant nothing, and that they 
must return to their old bondage." His insincerity was fully 
confirmed, for his revenge was not gratified until fifteen hun- 
dred of " the true commons of England" had perished at the 
hands of the executioner. 

The king surrounded himself with favorites, and 

to the eyes of the nation, which had hitherto been 
blinded by their affection for the son of the Black 
Prince, were at length opened to his misgovernment. In 
1386 the powerful and formidable John of Gaunt went to 
Spain to fight for the crown of Castile. The Duke of Glou- 
cester, another of Richard's uncles, obliged the king to resign 
the government into the hands of a council of bishops and 
nobles. To this Richard was forced to submit, until the year 



RICHARD II. 135 

1389, when lie again asserted his authority. During the 
government of Gloucester, the Scots, under Earl Douglas, 
made a foray across the English border. They were driven 
back by Henry Percy, and on the 15th of August, 1388, the 
battle of Otterburn was fought between these brave young 
knights. This is supposed to be the encounter commemo- 
rated in the stirring ballad of Chevy Chase. 

In the year 1397, Richard found means to revenge him- 
self on all who had opposed his government. His uncle, 
Duke of Gloucester, with other powerful barons, was put to 
death. The following year, taking advantage of a quarrel 
between his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, 
and the Duke of Norfolk, he banished them both from the 
land. The father of Hereford was the powerful John of 
Gaunt. He did not long survive his son's departure, dying 
early in the year 1399. Richard then seized the estates 
which belonged to the banished Bolingbroke. The Duke 
of York, the only surviving son of Edward III., foreseeing 
that it might imperil his crown, entreated the king not to 
commit this deed. Richard would not yield to his uncle's 
expostulations, and not only danger, but dethronement and 
death, followed upon this seizure of " the royalties and rights 
of banished Hereford." 

Henry Bolino-broke, burning with the sense of his 

1399. . ... 

injuries, landed in England. The king had gone on 
an expedition into Ireland. The great earls of Northumber- 
land and Westmoreland, with all the friends of " time-honored 
Lancaster," gathered around the banished earl, and welcomed 
him to his own again. Richard returned to England. Trea- 
chery met its reward. The son of the Black Prince, once 
the idol of the nation, was wholly deserted, and, like his 
ancestor, Edward II., became a fugitive among the mountains 
of Wales. At length, he surrendered himself, and, at Flint 
Castle, held an interview with his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke. 
Bolingbroke thus addressed him: " Your people complain 
that you have ruled them harshly for twenty-two years ; but, 
if it please God. I will help you to rule them better." 



136 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Nothing was left the deserted king but submission. So com- 
plete does this seem to have been, that Shakspeare makes 
Joan, the queen mother, exclaim : 

"Hath Bolingbroke deposed thine intellect?" 

Richard became a prisoner in Pontefract Castle. It is 
little doubted, that within its gloomy walls, this once idolized 
monarch met a violent death. 

Questions. — What was the feeling of the nation towards Richard? 
— Relate the account given of the Duke of Lancaster. — For what 
expenditures were new supplies of money needed?— What tax was 
especially odious to the people ? — Relate the incident which gave 
rise to Wat Tyler's insurrection. — Describe the progress, and relate 
the result of this movement. 

What treachery and cruelty was practised by the king? — What 
measures were taken to restrain the king ? — When, where, and 
between whom, was fought the battle of Chevy Chase ? — How did 
the king revenge himself on his enemies ? — What act of injustice did 
he commit in 1399? — In what did it result? — Who espoused the 
cause of Bolingbroke ? — Describe the meeting between him and the 
king at Flint Castle. — What was the end of Richard II. ? 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

RELIGION — LEARNING AND LEARNED MEN — LANGUAGE — LAW SCHOOLS — 
INDUSTRY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

Lord Morley, a great English baron, having trespassed 
on the grounds of a bishop of Norwich, was compelled, 
despite the earnest intercession of the king, to do severe 
penance before he could be absolved by the church. He 
walked to the cathedral through the streets of the town, 
barefoot, and with head uncovered, carrying in his hand a 
lighted wax candle of great weight. There, in the sight of 



ENGLAND DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 137 

a vast multitude, he humbly begged pardon of the haughty 
prelate. This incident may afford some idea of the pride 
and power of the clergy of England about the middle of this 
century. Before its close, the steady opposition of kings and 
parliaments had curbed the excessive tyranny of the papacy 
in England. 

Irreligion prevailed among all classes. The Lord's day was 
so openly profaned that, in the year 1359, the archbishop of 
Canterbury forbade fairs and markets to be kept on Sundays, 
and commanded " all persons to go to the parish churches on 
that day, to ask pardon for their offences, and to make amends 
for all the omissions and commissions of the preceding week." 
Over this dark horizon of false doctrine and evil practice arose 
a gleam of purer light. This was imparted by the life and 
writings of John Wickliffe, a priest of Lutterworth, in Leices- 
tershire. He is beautifully called " the Morning Star" of the 
Reformation, in allusion to his having preceded Luther by 
nearly two hundred years. 

The extortions of the begging friars first roused Wickliffe, 
who, in his lectures at Oxford, preached with much severity 
against them as well as* against the clergy generally. In 1371 
he was sent to Rome, on an embassy from the king. There 
he was filled, as in later times was the great Luther, with 
indignation at the corruption and extravagance of the papal 
court. His preaching in England at length drew upon him 
the persecutions of the clergy. Summoned before the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London, in St. Paul's 
Cathedral, he was supported by no less a champion than John 
of G-aunt, the great Duke of Lancaster. Wickliffe, thus 
befriended, escaped the snares of his enemies. On another 
occasion, when his judges held their court at Lambeth, 
Wickliffe came attended by so large a body of the citizens of 
London, that the prelates dared not pronounce sentence 
against him. 

The last two years of his life were devoted, in the quiet 
rectory of Lutterworth, to the noblest of all his labors — the 
12* 



138 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

translation of the Word of God into the mother tongue of the 
people. 

This good man died of a stroke of palsy, on the last day of 
the year 1384. His enemies rejoiced, and thirty years later 
testified their enmity by ordering his remains to be taken 
from their grave and the ashes thrown into a little rivulet, 
one of the branches of the Avon. '* Thus," as Fuller truly 
and beautifully remarks, " this brook did convey his ashes 
into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow sea; 
and this into the wide ocean. And so the ashes of Wickliffe 
are the emblem of his doctrine, which is now dispersed all the 
world over." 

The fashion of building and endowing colleges, which 
began in the thirteenth century, increased during the four- 
teenth. In Oxford rose Exeter and Oriel Colleges, the one 
the work of a king, the other of a bishop ; whilst the good 
Philippa gave name to Queen's College, the foundation of her 
chaplain, Robert Eglesfield. William of Wykeham, bishop 
of Winchester, was a famous founder of schools, colleges, and 
churches. New College, one of the most beautiful and inte- 
resting at Oxford, owes its establishment to him. 

Halls and colleges arose on the banks of the silvery Cam. 
One of these was the foundation of a lady, Mary de St. Paul, 
the wife of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. Her hus- 
band, it is said, was killed in a tournament on the day of their 
marriage. The widowed bride retired from the world, and 
spent a widowhood of forty-two years in works of piety and 
charity. She built, at Cambridge, a college for a master and 
fifty scholars, naming it " The Hall of Valence and Mary." 
It is best known, however, as Pembroke Hall. University, 
King's, Clare, and Trinity Halls, and Bennet College, were 
among the foundations of this century at Cambridge. 

The universities, as well as the schools in London, of which 
many were founded at this time, were crowded with students, 
not only from England, Scotland, and Ireland, but also from 
the continent. In this age Oxford and Cambridge sent forth 



ENGLAND DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 139 

men whose names are venerated wherever the English lan- 
guage is spoken. 

Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry, was a 
student at both these universities. His writings render it 
probable that he was an ardent Wickliffite, as he is" unsparing 
in his censures of the corrupt doctrines and practices of the 
Komish Church. This great poet died in London, and was 
buried in Westminster Abbey, the first of that long line of 
English bards who have made " the Poet's Corner" a place 
of almost sacred interest. 

The old chronicler and poet, Froissart, lived and wrote in 
this century. He is especially loud in his praises of the chivalry 
of the Black Prince. He presented a volume of his poems to 
the son of his favorite knight. The volume was bound in crim- 
son velvet, having silver clasps, and ornamented with golden 
roses. The poems written in French were transcribed by the 
author's own hand, and beautifully illuminated. 

The English in which Wickliffe translated the Bible and 
Chaucer wrote his "Canterbury Tales/' is very different from 
the English which we now speak and read. For a long time 
Latin had been the language of the learned, of the laws, of 
the schools, and of the church; French the language of the 
court and of the nobles. The Saxon tongue was that of the 
large body of the people. Depressed and despised for a time 
were those who used it, but they proved faithful guardians of 
the good old Saxon speech ) and now the time came when it 
should triumph and become the basis of the language which 
we call English. The other elements are French and Latin. 

By the middle of the fourteenth century Saxon and Nor- 
man had become one people. Scholars began to compose 
their works in English. Parliament passed laws that the 
pleadings in courts should be in the tongue of the people. 
By the close of the century English must have found its way 
into the royal palaces. Shakspeare makes the Duchess of 
York exclaim, in pleading for her son to Henry IV., 

" Speak pardon, as 'tis current in our land ; 
This chopping French we do not understand." 



140 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Famous schools were founded in the neighborhood of 
Westminster for law students. These were called Inns of 
Court and Inns of Chancery. Lincoln's Inn was so named in 
honor of its founder, an Earl of Lincoln, who lived in Edward 
II. 's reign. When the order of Knights Templars was broken 
up, the Temple buildings were given 'to the students of com- 
mon law. 

By Edward III ; s reign we find the English parliament 
divided into two houses. In the Lords sat all the higher 

o 

clergy, and the earls and barons who held immediately of the 
king. The House of Commons was composed of knights of 
shires, citizens, and burgesses. The former were summoned 
by a writ from the king j the latter by a writ directed to the 
sheriff of the county which they represented. The Commons 
had grown into so important a body, that it became necessary 
for them to choose a speaker, who should preside in their 
councils, and communicate between them and the king and 
upper house. The first speaker of the House of Commons 
was Sir Peter de la More, a knight from Herefordshire. 

The body destined to become so powerful, was, during this 
age, but a tool in the hands of the monarch and the House 
of Lords. On one occasion a commoner having introduced a 
bill displeasing to the king, narrowly escaped death. The 
house, in delivering up the offender, assured the sovereign 
"that it never was their intent to speak, show, or act any- 
thing which should be an offence or give displeasure to his 
majesty." 

Edward III. introduced a new order of nobility, that of 
dukes. The Black Prince was the first on whom this title 
was conferred : he was made Duke of Cornwall. Edward 
also instituted the order of Knights of the Garter. 

Many of the guilds or brotherhoods which had existed in 
former centuries became, during the course of this, incorpo 
rated into the great city companies, on which were bestowed 
many valuable privileges. These companies numbered among 
their members kinsrs and nobles. Such was the Merchant 



*&- 



ENGLAND DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 141 

Tailors' Company, to which Edward III. belonged ; the Skin- 
ners, the Goldsmiths, &c. 

There were no large warehouses. The shops of the 
trades-people resembled sheds and stalls, and most of the 
trade was carried on at fairs. Dealers in silks and ribbons, 
and in other articles imported from Milan, were called milli- 
ners. 

Edward III., in order to make the English more independ- 
ent of their Flemish neighbors, invited companies of Flem- 
ings, weavers, to settle in England, so that the native wool 
could be made into materials for garments without being sent 
out of the country. 

Coal, which had been discovered at Newcastle upon Tyne, 
in the preceding century, now became an article of export. 
It was furnished in such abundance from this port, that "like 
carrying coals to Newcastle," has passed into a proverb. When 
the burning of coal was first introduced into London, the -^ 
smoke was considered so injurious as well as disagreeable, 
that the brewers, dyers, and others who employed this fuel, 
were complained of, and a law was passed forbidding the use 
of it. The prejudice ceased after a while, and now bitu- 
minous coal constitutes almost the entire fuel of the great 
metropolis. 

England was rich in gold and silver plate. When Wat 
Tyler's insurgents robbed the Savoy palace, the silver and 
gold plate alone would have loaded five carts. 

Chivalry, with all its magnificence of joust and tournament, 
was in its full glory, especially during the reign of King 
Edward III. 

With the common people a species of theatrical performance, 
called Mysteries or Miracle-plays, was high in favor. The 
churches were turned into theatres, the priests became play 
actors, and the subjects of these plays were taken from the 
most striking and solemn scenes in the Bible history. The 
Creation, the Deluge, the Massacre of the Innocents, and 
even the Crucifixion of our Lord, were among the most 



142 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

admired of these miracle-plays, in which the priests did not 
hesitate to represent the holy persons of the Trinity. 

The sacred events commemorated by the festivals of the 
church were entirely lost sight of, amidst the profane and 
almost pagan revelry with which they were celebrated. At 
Christmas was held what might well be called " The Feast of 
Fools/' during which the lowest of the people were allowed 
to assume the highest dignities. A jester might personate a 
cardinal, a villain might play the part of pope, and so on. In 
such characters the rabble would enter the churches and per- 
form the most shocking parodies of the church service. 

On St. Nicholas' Day, the 6th of December, the boys of St. 
Paul's were allowed to choose from their number one whom 
they called a boy-bishop. He was presented with mitre and 
staff, and decked out, as were also his companions, in the 
splendid attire worn by the clergy of that day. In this guise 
they went to the cathedral, where they mimicked the religious 
services, the boy-bishop preaching the sermon. This over, 
they proceeded from house to house, singing and dancing, 
their leader blessing the people who stood at their doors to 
witness the absurd ceremony, and to bestow pennies upon the 
performers. The boy-bishop ^«pt his office until Holy Inno- 
cents' Day. 

At Christmas certain persons were chosen to preside over 
the revels. They were called "Abbots of Unreason," and 
" Lords of Misrule.'' &uch were the noisy sports of the 
English ■ of the fourteenth century ; but happiness is not 
greatest where merriment is loudest, and we have no reason 
to regret that these rude amusements have given place to 
more rational and quiet diversions. 

Among all classes great extravagance in dress prevailed. 
We hear of a courtier having fifty-two suits of cloth of gold. 
An English beau of this age must have presented a strange 
appearance. He wore long-pointed shoos, turned up and 
fastened to his knees by chains of gold and silver. His hose 
were of a different color for each leg. The jacket too was 



ENGLAND DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 143 

parti-colored, and the sleeves terminated at the elbow in long 
white streamers. The mantle was lined with ermine, the 
edo-es cnt in the form of leaves. It was fastened on the 
shoulder by four or five large buttons. On his head he wore 
a silk hood, embroidered with figures of animals, and some- 
times ornamented with precious stones. 

The dress of women was not more commendable than that 
of men. At one time their head-dresses towered nearly three 
feet above the head, and were ornamented with streamers of 
silk, long enough to flow upon the ground. 

Extravagance in eating had reached such a height, that 
laws were passed regulating the number of dishes to be served 
at the tables of ordinary subjects. 

During this period the peasantry of England emerged, in a 
great degree, from the hard condition of villanage in which 
they had been hitherto held. The unlimited and ignoble 
services required of a villain by his lord, became less oppres- 
sive in character, and more strictly defined in amount. By 
degrees even these were converted into money payments, so 
that the relation between lord and villain resembled more 
nearly the present relation of landlord and tenant. Many 
villains were set free by thv, piety of their lords. Some 
escaped, and secured their lib u.^ by residing a year and a 
day within a walled town, after which the law did not permit 
their recovery. Others fled to a distance beyond the reach 
of their masters. Thus, in various ways, there grew up in 
the midst of English society, both in town and country, a 
large body of free artisans and laborers. 

Though much lessened and mitigated, villanage still existed, 
and the light in which the common people were regarded may 
be gathered from the following mention of them. "In an 
encounter in France, called "the little war of Chalons," an 
old chronicler says : The English ransomed the knights, but 
slew many of the French foot soldiers, " because they were 
but rascals, and no great account was made of them." Sad 
proof of the barbarism of the times, and how little the vaunted 



144 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

spirit of chivalry could supply that Christian spirit of love 
which " condescends to men of low estate." 

Questions. — Relate the anecdote given in illustration of the power 
of the clergy. — By what was this power checked towards the close 
of this century ? — State what is told of the desecration of Sunday. 
— Who was Wickliffe ? — Against whom did he preach ? — With what 
result ? — By whom was he upheld ? — Mention the greatest of his 
labors. — What was the treatment of his remains? 

Name the colleges erected at Oxford during this period, and their 
founders. — What is told of the founder of Pembroke Hall? — What 
account is given of Chaucer ? — Describe the gift presented to Rich- 
ard II. — By whom was it given? — Name the three languages used in 
England. — By whom were they severally adopted ? — Which formed 
the basis of our present language ? 

Give some account of the law schools founded in London. — De- 
scribe the composition of the English parliament during this period. 
— Describe the character of the Commons. — Relate the origin and 
importance of the great city companies. — What body of foreign arti- 
sans were invited to England ? — What is said of the introduction of 
coal ? — Describe the amusements of this age. — What is said of 
Christmas festivities ? — What ceremonies took place on St. Nicholas' 
day ? — Give some description of the costumes of those days. — What 
great improvement took place in the condition of the villains. — 
What is said of the regard in which the common people were held ? 



HENRY IV. 145 



PART VII. 

ENGLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

HENRY IV.— HENRY V— HENRY VI.— EDWARD IV— 
RICHARD III.— HENRY VII. 

A. D. 1399—1509. 

"She saw her sons with purple deaths expire, 
Her sacred domes involved in rolling fire, 
A dreadful series of intestine wars, 
Inglorious triumphs and dishonest scars." 

Pope. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

HENRY IV. 

CONSPIRACIES— REBELLION — PRINCE HENRY— THE KING'S ADVICE. 

The fifteenth century was a time of so much war and 
tumult, that it may well be called one of the most unhappy 
periods of English history. 

At the close of the previous century, as we have already 
seen, Henry of Lancaster, a grandson of Edward III., had 
deposed his cousin Richard, and placed himself upon the 
throne. Henry IV. obtained, by this deed of violence, a 
crown to which he had no right. The true heir, after Rich- 
ard, was Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, a descendant of 
the second son of Edward III., whereas Henry of Lancaster 
was only descended from the third son of that monarch. 

Henry IV., having thus become king, was soon 
made to feel how thrice " uneasy lies the head that 
wears a crown," when that crown has been obtained by 
18 K 



146 HISTORY Or ENGLAND. 

injustice and wrong. Conspiracies arose against him. One 
night, when the straw which composed his bed was examined,- 
a sharp steel weapon was found concealed in it, which would 
no doubt have killed or seriously injured the king, had he lain 
down upon it. 

Henry IV. had been aided in his usurpation of the throne, 
by the Duke of Northumberland, his son Henry Percy (the 
Harry Hotepur of Shakspeare), and Northumberland's brother, 
the Earl of Worcester. Henry's ungrateful conduct to this 
powerful family of the Percys, at length roused them to rebel 
against him. They were joined by the Scottish earl, Douglas, 
and the Welsh prince, Owen ap-Gryflyth Vaughan ; the latter 
better known by the name of Glendower, from the district in 
Wales of which he was a native. 

The kins; was no sooner made aware of this for- 

1103. .''".. 

midable rising, than he prepared, with a large force, 
to suppress it. Owing to the illness of Northumberland, and 
the absence of Glendower, the strength of the conspirators was 
greatly weakened ; and when the two armies met in battle at 
Shrewsbury, although Percy and Douglas performed deeds of 
great valor, the one was slain, the other taken prisoner, and 
their cause entirely lost. 

In the battle of Shrewsbury, Prince Henry, the eldest son 
of the king, gave the first proof of that valor which, in after 
years, rendered his military career so glorious. This young 
prince had filled his father's heart with sorrow and anxiety. 
Surrounded by wild companions, he spent his time amid scenes 
and occupations totally unfitted to prepare him for the cares 
of a crown, or the wise government of a kingdom. On one 
occasion, however, there had gleamed forth the promise of a 
nobler spirit. One of Prince Henry's evil companions had 
been brought for trial before the Chief Justice Gascoigne. 
The latter refused to release the culprit, notwithstanding the 
prince's earnest solicitations. Whereupon, Henry, becoming 
indignant, behaved in a manner so insulting to the dignity of 
the court, that the chief justice ordered him to the King's 
Bench prison. To this punishment the prince submitted. 



HENRY IV. 147 

When the incident was related to the king, he exclaimed : 
" Happy is the king that has a magistrate endowed with 
courage to execute the laws upon such an offender : still more 
happy in having a son willing to submit to such a chastise- 
ment." 

One of the most interesting episodes in the history of this 
reign, is the story of the captivity of the young Prince James, 
afterwards James I. of Scotland. The royal boy had been 
embarked for France to save him from the hands of his uncle, 
the ruthless Duke of Albany, who had seized the government 
of the country. The vessel was captured by some English 
cruisers, and the prince, a boy of only twelve years, was 
brought a prisoner to the English court. 

Seldom had a captive less cause to bewail his captivity, than 
the young heir of the Scottish throne the nineteen years of 
his detention in England. The Round Tower of Windsor 
Castle was appropriated to his use, and there, amid the 
beauties of nature, having access to the best masters and 
books of the age, conversing with men of learning and 
refinement, he developed into one of the sweetest poets as 
well as one of the noblest characters of his time. 

His most celebrated work, called " The King's Quair" or 
Book, is a tender and elegant poem, suggested by his love for 
the Lady Joanna Beaufort, an English princess whom he 
afterwards married. James survived his restoration to the 
throne only thirteen years, falling the victim to a conspiracy 
among his turbulent nobles in 1436. 

In the year 1405, a conspiracy was raised against the 
English king, headed by Scroop, archbishop of York, and 
the Earl of Northumberland. By treacherous promises the 
forces of the conspirators were disbanded, and the venerable 
prelate seized and beheaded. This was the first instance, in 
English history, of sentence of death being executed against 
an archbishop. 

Although Henry of Lancaster could defeat the efforts of 
his human foes, he could not silence the still small voice of 
conscience, which ever reminded him, " by what by-paths, and 



148 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

indirect, crooked ways," he had gained his crown. Fearing 
that it might prove an insecure possession to his son, the 
king advised that prince, whenever he should succeed to the 
inheritance, to busy his subjects in foreign wars, and thus 
divert their minds from a too close inquiry into his title to 
the throne. 

In March, of the year 1413, whilst King Henry was pray- 
ing before the shrine in Edward the Confessor's chapel, he 
was seized with a fit, and carried by his attendants to the 
lodgings of the abbot. There, in an apartment known 'as 
"The Jerusalem Chamber,' , on the 20th of the month, he 
breathed his last. His remains were interred in a beautiful 
tomb in Canterbury cathedral. 

Questions. — How does the fifteenth century compare with other 
periods of English history ? — How did Henry IV. 's claim to the crown 
compare with that of the Earl of March? — How was Henry IV. 's 
seizure of the crown punished ? — To whom was Henry indebted for 
his throne ? — How did he act towards the Percys, and what was the 
result ? — Who aided the Percys in their conspiracy ?-— Where was a 
battle fought, and with what result ? 

How did Prince Henry distinguish himself at Shrewsbury ? — What 
had been his previous conduct? — Relate the anecdote given of Prince 
Henry and the chief justice. — What conspiracy arose in 1405? — How 
was it defeated and punished ? — Was it customary to inflict capital 
punishment on the clergy ? — What advice did the king give to his 
son, Prince Henry? — Relate the circumstances of the king's death. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

HENRY V. 

WARS IN FRANCE — AGINCOTTRT — TREATY OP TROYES — HENRY'S DEATH. 

Prince Henry, upon his accession to the throne, 
hastened to adopt the advice which his father had 
given him. 



HENRY V. 149 

Before two years had passed, he revived the claim made by 
his ancestor, Edward III., to the crown of France, and, en- 
gaging in war with that country, effectually turned the minds 
of the nation from any dangerous questioning of his title to 
the sceptre of England. 

Before commencing his wars in France, Henry had won 
the hearts of the English by his generous treatment of the 
young Earl of March, who, having been kept in prison during 
the late reign, was now set free, and treated with kindness. 
The remains of King Richard were, by Henry's orders, in- 
terred with great pomp in Westminster Abbey, and the son 
of Harry Hotspur recalled from exile, and reinstated in the 
honors and estates of the Percys. 

The condition of France at this time was such as to 
tempt the ambition of the English king. A quarrel 
between the Houses of Orleans and Burgundy, as to which 
should govern the country during the minority of the young 
French king, was distracting the nation with civil war. So 
violent were the feelings of hatred between the Burgundians 
and Orleanists, that they would not unite, even to defend 
their country, when threatened by a powerful foreign enemy. 

In the summer of 1415, Henry V., with thirty thousand 
men, landed in France. He captured Harfleur, but disease 
invaded his camp, and made such frightful ravages, that, with 
the losses sustained in the siege, the English army was re- 
duced to ten thousand men, when commencing its march 
towards Calais. Everywhere the peasantry were treated with 
kindness, and the robberies and violence so often committed 
by troops marching through an enemy's country, were re- 
strained. 

The French were sixty thousand strong. They obstructed 
the passage of the rivers, and hung on the rear of Henry's 
army, as they had done some seventy years before, when this 
monarch's great-grandfather was the invader. 

At length, from a hill near the castle of Agin court, the 
English king beheld the whole French force, ready for an 
13* 



150 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

encounter. It was a perilous prospect, six men to one ; but, 
notwithstanding these fearful odds, Henry determined to give 
battle the following day. He sent David Gam, his faithful 
Welsh squire, to reconnoitre, and report the number of the 
enemy. The squire returned, telling his master " there were 
enough to fight, enough to be killed, and enough to run away." 
Before the battle, King Henry, mounted on a gray 
°i2*i5^' P a ^ re y> an( * wearing "a helmet of polished steel, sur- 
mounted with a crown of gold, set with sparkling 
gems, and the arms of England and France embroidered in 
gold," on his surcoat, rode in front of his army, and, with 
animated eye and voice, addressed his followers. 

He spoke of the glorious victories which their ancestors had 
won on French territory, and exclaimed : " England shall 
never pay ransom for me; on the field of battle, I have vowed 
to conquer or die !" "When one of his knights expressed the 
wish "that some of the brave knights and stout archers living 
in idleness in merry England," could be present on the field, 
the king replied: "No! I would not have a single man more. 
If God gives us the victory, the fewer we are, the more honor; 
and if we lose, the less will be the loss to our country." 

Notwithstanding the fearful disparity of numbers, they won 
the victory, and before the chivalry of England fell the pride 
and flower of the French nobility. Seven near relatives of 
the French king lay dead upon the field, and eight thousand 
brave knights perished by their side. Dreadful had been the 
scene of carnage. When it was over, the abbot of a neigh- 
boring monastery bought twenty-five roods of land, in which 
three great pits were dug, and into them were thrown five 
thousand eight hundred of those who had fallen in the battle. 
" Then the bishop of Guines went down, and sprinkled with 
holy water, and blessed this vast sepulchre of the aristocracy 
of France." 

Enthusiastic was the reception which the hero of Agincourt 
met on his return to England. As he approached the coast 
at Dover, the people rushed into the sea to meet him, and 
swam with him on their shoulders, in triumph to the shore. 



HENRY V. 151 

The war with France was highly popular, and sup- 
plies were readily granted to carry it on. 
The quarrel between the Orleanists and the Burgundians 
was still kept up, and the English gained ground. The city 
of Rouen was taken, and, in the course of a few years, all the 
country north of the river Loire submitted to the conquerors. 
In the year 1420, the Duke of Burgundy, the leader of one 
of the two parties which divided France, entered into an 
alliance with the English, and the famous treaty of Troyes 
was made between them. In fulfilment of the terms of this 
treaty, Henry V. married Catherine, the daughter of the 
French king, and was proclaimed regent of France, with the 
promise of succeeding to the throne. The existing monarch, 
Charles VI., was insane, and wholly incapable of the cares 
of government, and the dauphin had joined the Orleanists, 
who still kept up the struggle against England. 

Whilst pursuing successfully his war against this faction, 
the English king was seized by the hand of death. 

14:22. & & ."' 

The end of Henry V. is a pleasing contrast to that of 
many a crowned monarch. In the castle of the Bois de Vin- 
cennes, he summoned his brothers and the great nobles of the 
realm to his bedside. With calmness and wisdom he gave 
counsel for the management of his kingdom. He appointed 
his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, protector of England, 
during the minority of his son, the infant Prince of Wales, 
and he made the Duke of Bedford regent of France. 

Then, turning from the cares of earth, he spent the last 
hours of his life in devotional exercises. The funeral cere- 
monies with which the remains of this popular sovereign were 
borne to England, were extremely splendid and imposing. 
On his tomb in Westminster Abbey, tapers were kept con- 
stantly burning for more than a hundred years. 

Questions. — In what wars did Henry V. engage ? — With what 
politic result? — By what acts did this king obtain popularity? — ■ 
Describe the condition of France during the early part of this cen- 
tury. — What circumstance proves the violence of the contests between 
the Orleanists and Burgundians ? — Describe the condition and con- 



152 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

duct of the English forces in France. — How did the army of the 
English king compare with that of the French ? — Where did the 
French offer battle ? — Describe the English king's appearance and 
address to his army. — Who won the day ? — Describe the manner 
of the burial of those who had fallen ? 

How was Henry received in England ? — Describe the extent of the 
English conquests in France. — What did Henry gain by the treaty 
of Troyes ? — What was the position of the royal family of France at 
this time? — What ended Henry's successful career? — What provision 
did he maka for his dominions ? 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

HENRY VI. 



THE WAR IN FRANCE — JOAN OP ARC— MARRIAGE OP THE KING AND ITS 
CONSEQUENCES — WARS OF THE ROSES. 

The Duke of Gloucester was Protector of England; the 
Duke of Bedford Regent in France ; and the Earl of 
Warwick and Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, 
were chief guardians of the young king. 

In France, the Duke of Bedford, notwithstanding many 
obstacles and difficulties, particularly that of the jealousy and 
lukewarmness of his ally the Duke of Burgundy, maintained 
the honor of the English arms. Determined to strike a blow 
for the possession of the country south of the Loire, he laid 
siege to Orleans, a town situated on that river, and 

14:28. . ' . ' 

considered the key to the southern provinces. 

Month after month the English lay before the town, whilst 
within it were renewed the horrors of the siege of Calais. 
The final unsuccessful appeal had been made to the dauphin 
(who, on the death of his father in 1422, had assumed the 
title of king), and the thought of surrender was entertained. 

At this critical hour a singular deliverer was raised up for 
Orleans and for France — a village maiden, named Joan of 
Arc. She had been nurtured as a peasant girl in the wild 



HENRY VI. 153 

districts of Lorraine, amid a people of strong religious feelings, 
who were firm believers in visions and miraculous appearances. 
She had passed her childhood tending her father's flocks, and 
musing, amid the solitude of the hills, on the lives and legends 
of saints and martyrs. 

From time to time came news of the horrors of the war 
which was ravaging her beloved country. Occasionally a 
band of soldiers took their merciless march through- her 
native village. The miseries of war weighed upon her spirits, 
and excited her imagination. She declared that she saw 
heavenly visions and heard voices which bade her go to the 
aid of the dauphin, and the deliverance of France. 

At first her visions were disbelieved and ridiculed ; and it 
was a long time before the desire of her heart was granted, and 
she was admitted to the presence of the dauphin. Suspected 
of lunacy by some, of sorcery by others, and subjected to the 
most trying examinations, she at length, with great difficulty, 
roused the spirit of the French, and persuaded them 
to send her, at the head of a small armed force, to 
the relief of Orleans. 

Mounted on a snow-white horse, clad in bright armor, 
bearing a sword marked with five crosses, and a banner 
embroidered with the lilies of France, Joan of Arc rode 
towards the devoted town. The common people flocked to 
her standard, and the besieged, rushing out of the town, 
attacked the English, amid cries of " The Maid ! the Maid is 
come !" The attention of the enemy being diverted by this 
attack, Joan and her troops entered the town. 

On the 8th of May, 1429, the English were obliged to raise 
the siege of Orleans. The soldiers would not fight against 
the Maid, who, whether inspired by Heaven, or (as their 
officers would have them believe) a sorceress, was, in either 
case, no mortal enemy. 

This was in May. Before the end of July, Joan had 
accomplished another object for which she believed herself 
destined — 'the crowning of the dauphin at Rheims, the old 
coronation city of the kings of France. This done, she 



154 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

begged that she might return to her own village, believing 
that her heaven-directed mission was fulfilled. The French 
king, hoping her presence might still inspire the English 
with terror, refused her request. The knights of France grew 
jealous of her fame, and, by degrees, her popularity declined. 
She no longer heard voices from heaven, and, although she 
fought with valor, many of her enterprises failed. 

At length, whilst fleeing into the town of Coin- 

peigne, before a large body of English, Joan was 
deserted by her companions, and she who had been the 
deliverer of France was left in the hands of her enemies- 
She was taken to Rouen. Accused of sorcery and magic, 
this simple-minded, pious maiden, was brought, again and 
again, before learned churchmen, that she might be con- 
victed of the crime. Even in her cell, where she was loaded 
with irons, monks and confessors tormented her, to draw forth 
an avowal of dealings with the evil one. 

There was nothing in the life or in the words of this heroic 
girl to condemn her, but her enemies had determined on her 
death ; and, after persecutions and trials of the severest kind, 
Joan of Arc was burned as a heretic in the market-place of 
Rouen. Clasping a crucifix, and uttering the name of Jesus, 
she perished amid the blazing faggots, one of the purest and 

noblest martyrs that the annals of patriotism have 
* ever produced. A monument now marks the spot, in 
the city of Rouen, where this cruel act of bigotry was done. 

With this evil deed success seems to have deserted the 
arms of the English. In September, 1435, the Duke of 
Bedford, who for thirteen years had maintained the dominion 
in France which Henry V. had won, died. One week later 
the Duke of Burgundy deserted to the French king. Finally, 
in 1444, this long war was interrupted by a truce made for 
two years, but which continued through six years. 

Affairs in England had not gone on prosperously. 

The Protector and Beaufort, the guardian of the 
young king, quarrelled, and their parties divided the king- 
dom. Henry VI. was now twenty-four years of age. He 



HENRY VI. 155 

was of a gentle, retiring disposition, of weak intellect, and 
totally unfitted for the cares of government. In the year 
1445 he parried Margaret, princess of Anjou. 

A French queen was always distasteful to the nation, and 
there were peculiar objections to the marriage with Margaret. 
Hitherto the princesses of France, although they had brought 
trouble enough into England, had at least conferred upon 
their royal husbands a goodly dowry of French provinces. 
But, by the terms of the marriage treaty with Margaret, her 
father Renee, Duke of Anjou, was to receive from the English 
king a large sum of money, together with the extensive pro- 
vinces of Maine and Anjou, which, with so much cost of life 
and treasure, had been won by the English. 

This treaty, so derogatory to the interests of England, was 
violently opposed by " the good Duke Humphrey," as the 
people called the Protector Gloucester. Margaret of Anjou, 
who was a revengeful woman, aware of this opposition, began, 
as soon as she came into England, a series of persecutions 
against the upright protector, which ended in his being 
arrested on the charge of high treason. Before the day of 
his trial arrived, the Duke of Gloucester was found dead in 
his bed. The Duke of Suffolk, one of Margaret's principal 
favorites, succeeded him as Protector, the king's incapacity 
making such an office necessary. 

In France, on the death of Bedford, the Duke of York had 
been made Regent. Margaret caused him to be recalled, and 
one of her own favorites, the Duke ©f Somerset, appointed in 
his place. During Somerset's administration, the English 
were driven from France. With the exception of the strong 
town of Calais, every fragment of the territory gained by so 
many years of conquest, was lost to them. 

Popular indignation now rose against the queen and her 

unworthy favorite, Suffolk. He was tried on a charge 

of high treason before the House of Lords, and a 

decree of banishment from England and all her dominions 

passed against him. He embarked in a small vessel for 

Calais. Before reaching that port, a large ship, "The 



156 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Nicholas of the Tower/' sent no doubt by Suffolk's enemies, 
overtook the vessel which bore the banished favorite. He 
was made a prisoner, and, on the third day after his capture, 
was beheaded. 

This was not the only deed by which indignation against 
the government was shown.. A formidable insurrection of 
the people, headed by one Jack Cade, broke out in Kent. 
The rebels, numbering fifteen or twenty thousand men, 
marched to London. When the court sent to inquire why 
the "good men of Kent" had risen in arms, their leader 
replied : " that justice and prosperity had been put out of the 
land by misgovernment," and demanded the dismissal of the 
obnoxious favorites, and restoration of the Duke of York and 
others of the old nobility to royal favor. Many acts of vio- 
lence, similar to those of Wat Tyler's rebellion, were com- 
mitted, before the insurgents were subdued. At length they 
were induced, by false promises of redress and pardon, to 
disperse. Jack Cade being subsequently proclaimed a traitor, 
fled towards the coast. He was overtaken by an esquire 
named Alexander Iden. A fight ensued between them, in 
which the rebel leader was slain. His head was placed upon 
London Bridge, with the face towards Kent. 

We have now come to the saddest part of the history of 
this century — that which records the civil wars of the houses 
of York and Lancaster, or the Wars of the Roses, as they are 
often called, because the Yorkists chose as their emblem a 
white, and the Lancastrians a red rose. 

A large portion of the nation, indignant at the govern- 
ment of Margaret, were desirous that Richard of York, in 
right of his descent from the second son of Edward III., 
should be acknowledged heir to the throne. During 

X4r54L. 

a short period of nine months, whilst the king was 
suffering from an attack of insanity, this nobleman had been 
appointed Protector. On the king's recovery York resigned 
the office, and immediately the queen and her evil counsellors 
resumed their power. 



HENRY VI. 157 

The party of the Duke of York now took up arms, 
professing to do so in defence of the liberties of the 
realm j for as yet, York had not openly claimed the crown. 

At St. Albans, the Yorkists and Lancastrians met in hostile 
encounter. There, on the 22d of May, 1455, was fought the 
first battle in those dreadful wars which, for thirty years, 
deluged England with blood, tore asunder the dearest ties of 
social life, and nurtured feelings of revenge, and a ferocity of 
character which could scarcely find a parallel; even in the 
pagan days of England's history. 

It is needless to mention all the details of these times of 
misery. 

At the end of five years from the battle of St. 

1160. 

Albans, Ei chard, Duke of York, openly claimed the 
throne. A bloody encounter took place at Wakefield, in 
Yorkshire, in which the Lancastrians gained the victory, 
their formidable enemy being killed on the field of battle. 
Margaret displayed her revengeful spirit, by causing the 
head of her slain foe to be put upon the gates of York, 
surmounted by a paper crown, in ridicule of his claim to the 
throne. 

The young Duke of Rutland, a beautiful boy of thirteen, a 
son of the Duke of York, fled from the battle-field. He was 
overtaken by Lord Clifford, who, stabbing him to the heart, 
despite his piteous cries for mercy, vowed he would do thus 
to all of the house of York, in revenge for the death of his 
father, slain at St. Albans. Then, with savage cruelty, Clif- 
ford sent a messenger to describe to the mother of the mur- 
dered boy, all that had happened. 

Edward, the eldest son of Richard of York, now inherited 

his father's claim to the throne. At Mortimer's Cross, near 

Hereford, on the 1st February, he gained a decisive 

victory over the Lancastrians. Thence, toward the 

close of the month, he marched to London, where he was 

received with great enthusiasm by the people; and on the 

4th of March, 1461, was proclaimed king by the acclamations 

14 



158 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

of the populace, and the consent of a great council of the lords 
of the realm. 



Questions.— Name those who were at the head of the government 
during the king's minority.— What object did Bedford desire to 
accomplish ?— What town did he besiege ?— Describe the condition 
of the besieged.— Relate the early history of Joan of Arc— Recount 
her patriotic exertions. —Describe her subsequent misfortunes and 
death. 

What misfortunes befell the English after the death of Joan of 
Arc ? — In what year was a truce agreed upon between England and 
France ? — What was the condition of affairs in England at this 
time ? — Mention the age and describe the disposition of the king. — 
Whom did he marry ? — What were the terms of the marriage-treaty 
with Margaret of Anjou? — Who opposed this treaty? — With what 
result? — Who succeeded Gloucester as Protector? — Whom did Mar- 
garet cause to be appointed Regent in France ? — What was the fate 
of the Duke of Suffolk ? — Give an account of Cade's insurrection. 

Whom did the nation regard as the heir to the throne ? — Into what 
were the partisans of the Duke of York led, by the misgovernment 
of the queen? — When and where did the scene of civil strife open? — 
In what disastrous effects did these wars result? — When did the 
Duke of York openly claim the throne? — What was the result of the 
battle of Wakefield? — How did Margaret show her revengeful spirit? 
— Relate the fate of the young Duke of Rutland ? — Who succeeded to 
the inheritance of the Duke of York? — What victory secured him the 
throne ? — When was he proclaimed king ? 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

EDWARD IV. 

BATTLE OF TOWTON — KING'S MARRIAGE — ITS CONSEQUENCES — TRIUMPH OF 
LANCASTRIANS— THEIR FINAL OVERTHROW — THE KING'S REVENGE. 

One of the bloodiest battles in English history marked the 
accession of Edward IV. It was fought at Towton, 

14:61. ° . 

in Yorkshire. It began at nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing, in the midst of a terrible snow-storm, and lasted for six 



EDWARD IV. 159 

hours. The Yorkists gained a complete victory, but the 
slaughter was immense, and the fearful number of thirty-eight 
thousand dead are said to have been left upon the battle-field. 
Margaret, with her son and husband, fled to Scotland. Thence 
she went to France, and employed the next nine years in 
untiring efforts for the recovery of her throne. The unfortu- 
nate and " gentle-hearted" King Henry wandered a fugitive 
in his own kingdom, until some years later, when he 
was betrayed into the hands of his enemies, and by 
them lodged in the Tower. 

King Edward, at his coronation, which took place at West- 
minster, after the battle of Towton, conferred the titles and 
honors of Duke of Clarence and Duke of Gloucester on his 
two brothers, George and Richard. As Henry IV., the first 
monarch of the house of Lancaster, had been raised to the 
throne by the influence of a powerful family, so Edward IV., 
the first king of the house of York, owed his ascendancy to 
the great family of the Nevils. Guy, Earl of Warwick, the 
eldest brother of this house, was surnamed "king-maker," 
because of the great weight which his influence gave to the 
claimant whose cause he espoused, in these contests for the 
crown. 

Like his predecessor of the house of Lancaster, Edward JV. 
did that which was highly displeasing to those who had secured 
him the throne. On the 1st of May, 1464, without the con- 
sent or knowledge of his great lords, he married Lady Eliza- 
beth Woodville, the widow of Sir John Grey. Surrounding 
himself by his wife's relations, the king at length presented 
her to the council as his queen, and, about a year after the 
marriage, her coronation took place, celebrated by tournaments 
and pageants of great magnificence. 

Edward bestowed, with an unsparing hand, offices and 
honors on the new queen's family. Her father was made 
Earl Rivers, and the Greys and the Woodvilles usurped every 
place of honor and profit in the realm. This gave great 
offence to the whole nation, but particularly to the proud 
family of the Nevils. 



160 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

The Duke of Clarence, the next brother to Edward, married 
Isabella, eldest daughter of the Earl of Warwick. Disgusted 
by the conduct of Edward, Clarence joined his father-in-law, 
and both went over to France, to plot the dethronement of one 
whom they had made king. 

The high spirit of Margaret of Anjou was yet unbroken, 
and to regain the crown, she was willing to make alliance with 
her greatest enemy. Warwick and the banished queen met at 
the castle of Amboise. The king-maker promised to restore 
the house of Lancaster. Margaret engaged to marry 
her young son Edward to Anne Nevil, Warwick's 
second daughter, thus securing to his family, should their 
cause triumph, the succession to the throne. 

In September, 1470, Warwick landed in England. King 
Edward, taken by surprise, had no time to gather his forces 
for battle. To avoid being made prisoner, he embarked 
hastily in a Dutch vessel, and, after great peril, escaped to 
Holland. 

Warwick entered London in triumph. Proceeding to the 
Tower, he released the captive Henry, and saluted as king, 
him who, a few years previous, he had conducted to that 
gloomy prison, crying before him as he went: "Behold the 
traitor !" The Yorkists were filled with terror. Queen Eliza- 
beth Woodville fled to the sanctuary at Westminster, where, 
shortly after, she gave birth to her eldest son. The birth of 
this young prince in the sanctuary of Westminster, amid cir- 
cumstances of terror and distress, was a fitting prelude to the 
sad story of his life, and his early death of horror and mystery 
in the Tower of London. 

The triumph of the Lancastrians was of short duration. 
Edward raised an army of twelve hundred men, and, 
in less than six months, landed in England, for the 
recovery of his crown. He disembarked at Ravenspur, in 
Yorkshire, the very port at which Henry Bolingbroke had 
landed, when he came to dethrone his cousin, Richard II. 
Marching southward, he met, near Coventry, the Earl of 
Warwick, prepared to give him battle. 



EDWARD IV. 161 

Before the conflict began, the Duke of Clarence, making 
his men put the white rose of York on their helmets, deserted 
the Lancastrian cause, and went over to the army of his 
brother. Owing to this desertion, Warwick was obliged to 
avoid an engagement. Edward continued his march south- 
ward, and was received with great joy in London. The two 
armies met late on Easter even, at Barnet, about twelve miles 
from the capital, where a severe battle was fought on Easter 
Sunday. 

The Duke of Clarence, who, it will be remembered, had 
married a daughter of Warwick, tried to make peace between 
his brother and father-in-law. To his herald, the haughty 
king-maker replied : " Glo tell your master, that Warwick, 
true to his oath, is a better man than false, perjured Clarence, 
and will settle the question by the sword to which he has 
appealed." 

The battle of Barnet was won by the Yorkists. The great 
Earl of Warwick was slain upon the field, and Edward IV. 
recovered the throne. On the very day of the battle, Marga- 
ret of Anjou, with her son and a body of French troops, 
landed in England. Near Tewkesbury, on the banks of the 
Severn, she was met and defeated by King Edward's army. 
She and her son were taken prisoners When the young 
prince, a boy of eighteen, was carried into King Edward's 
presence, the monarch asked what brought him to England. 
"My father's crown and v my own inheritance I" replied the 
undaunted youth. The ungenerous king struck him with his 
gauntlet, and, taking this as a signal for further cruelty, others 
fell upon the unhappy boy, and put him to death with their 
swords. 

Margaret of Anjou lived eleven years longer. Part of the 
time she was a prisoner in England. Being ransomed by the 
French king, the last six years of her existence were passed 
in obscurity in France. The life of her unhappy husband 
ended soon after the restoration of Edward IV. to his throne. 
He was found dead in the Tower. 

In 1475, Edward, as an ally of the Duke of Burgundy, and 
14* L 



162 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

also as a claimant of the French throne, entered France with 
a large army. No battles were fought, nor conquests gained, 
for the artful King Louis XI. contrived to bribe Edward into 
a disgraceful peace. The English army then recrossed the 
Channel, and during the remainder of this reign, with the 
exception of an unimportant campaign in Scotland, no wars 
occurred. 

Edward's revengeful temper had never fully forgiven his 

brother Clarence the alliance with the.Nevils. He now 

accused him of witchcraft, a grave charge in those days, and 

of conspiring to obtain the throne. Clarence was cast into 

the Tower, where, in little more than a month, he 

1478. .'•'•. . 

died. The popular belief and rumor was, that his 
brother, Richard of Gloucester, had caused him to be drowned 
in a butt of Malmsey wine. 

Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of King Edward, 
had long been affianced to Charles, the dauphin of France. 
In 1482, the crafty Louis XI., finding a more advantageous 
alliance for his son, in the wealthy heiress of Burgundy, 
broke his treaty with Edward on this point. The English 
king, greatly incensed, prepared for war, but before his 
arrangements were completed, he died, the victim of a life 
of vicious excesses. 

Questions. — Describe the battle of Towton. — Relate the subse- 
quent fate of Margaret. — What befell King Henry VI. ? — To whom 
had Edward been indebted for his elevation to the throne ? — What 
surname did the Earl of Warwick receive ? — Why did he receive 
it? — Whom did the king marry? — By what acts did he incur the 
enmity of the house of Warwick? — By whom was a conspiracy en- 
tered into against the king? — Mention the engagements made be- 
tween Margaret of Anjou and Warwiek. 

When did Warwick invade England ? — With what result ? — De- 
scribe his conduct towards the imprisoned Henry VI. — What dis- 
turbed the triumph of the Lancastrians in 1471 ? — What act of 
treachery did the Duke of Clarence commit? — What effect did it 
produce? — What was the consequence of this desertion? — When and 
where did the two armies meet in conflict? — What was the result 
of the battle of Barnet ? — What was the result of Margaret's attempt 



EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III. 163 

to regain the crown? — Describe the interview between the young 
prince, Margaret's son, and King Edward. — State what followed ? — 
What was the subsequent history of Margaret of Anjou? 

On what grounds did Edward declare war with France ? — What 
was the conduct of this war ? — Was Edward IV. 's a warlike reign? — 
Relate Edward's conduct towards his brother Clarence. — What insult 
had the king of France offered to the English monarch? — What 
prevented Edward from making war on France ? 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III. 

Richard's machinations — the princes in the tower — richard be- 
comes KING — A RIVAL CLAIMANT — BOSWORTH FIELD. 

The story of the next reign (if reign it can be called) is 
as sad as it is brief. The young Edward, eldest son 
of Edward IV., a gentle, timid boy of thirteen, was 
the heir to the throne. He was too young himself to resist 
the power of his ambitious and unscrupulous uncle, Richard, 
Duke of Gloucester, and the prince's only friends were those 
of his mother, the Woodvilles and the Greys, who were 
unpopular with the nation. 

Richard soon disposed of these. Earl Rivers and Lord 
Grrey, the guardians of the young prince, were treacherously 
arrested, and, with others, beheaded at Pontefract Castle. 
The Earl Rivers was one of the most accomplished men of 
his age, and the patron of Caxton the first English printer. 

Not content with destroying the queen's relations, Richard 
seized and put to death Lord Hastings, one of the most loyal 
servants of the young prince ; and, in fact, did not scruple to 
remove all whom he supposed would bar his usurpation of 
the throne. When all these measures had been taken, he 
declared that, King Edward IV. having been married to 
another lady before his union with Elizabeth Woodville, the 



164 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



children of the last marriage were not the lawful heirs to the 
throne. 

By these arts he prevailed, and the people offered him the 
crown. At first he affected to refuse it, pretending affection 
for his brother's children — those very princes whom he had 
just declared incapable, of reigning. His pretended scruples, 
however, were soon laid aside, and he was crowned king, with 
the title of Richard III. The young Prince Edward and his 
brother, meanwhile, had been imprisoned. 

A mysterious horror surrounds the death scene of many a 
king and scion of England's royal race ; but none is darker 
than that which shrouds the fate of these young princes in 
London Tower. That they were murdered by their wicked 
uncle, can scarcely be doubted, but by what means the deed 
of darkness was accomplished, none can know with certainty. 
The most generally received opinion is, that they were smo- 
thered to death by two assassins, acting under the order of 
the unscrupulous Richard. 

When the opponents of Richard of Gloucester found that 
the two princes had perished, they turned their hopes 
to Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, a descendant of 
the house of Lancaster. 

PWn Brittany, where, for many years, he had been living 
in exile, Richmond now made an unsuccessful attempt to* 
invade England. Not long after his return to France, a 
treacherous minister of the Duke of Brittany was about to 
betray him into the hands of Richard III., but he saved 
himself by a timely flight to the court of the French king. 

On the 7th August, 1485, Richmond again landed in Eng- 
land. He had only a small body of men, but he was well 
aware that his father-in-law (Lord Stanley) with other power- 
ful relations, were ready to espouse his cause, and that the 
nation generally were disaffected toward Richard. 

Suspecting the fidelity of Lord Stanley, Richard seized that 
nobleman's son as a hostage, and trusting in superior numbers, 
prepared to encounter Richmond. At Bosworth, near Lei- 
cester, the two armies met, and there fought the last battle of 



HENRY VII. 165 

the Wars of the Eoses. Early in the conflict, Lord Stanley, 

with ten thousand men, went over to the army of his step-son j 

others followed his example. Deserted on every hand, Richard 

fought with the madness of desperation : but, borne 

'14:85. 

down by numbers, he fell, covered with wounds, as 
he was seeking a personal encounter with his rival. Lord 
Stanley placed the blood-soiled, battered crown (which had 
fallen from Richard) upon the Earl of Richmond's brow, and 
saluted him king, upon the field of victory. 

Questions. — With what difficulties had the young Edward V. to 
contend ? — How did Richard dispose of the guardians of young 
Edward ? — What is said of Earl Rivers ? — What was done with the 
young princes ? — What is said of their fate ? 

Whom did the opponents of Richard desire to make king ? — What 
was the result of his first invasion of England? — How did he escape 
betrayal into Richard's hands? — What encouraged his second inva- 
sion of England ? — Where was the last battle of the Wars of the 
Roses fought? — Who deserted to the Duke of Richmond? — What 
was the result of this encounter ? 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

HENRY VII. 

ENTRY INTO LONDON — TREATMENT OP THE HOUSE OP YORK — IMPOSTORS — 
SIMNEL — WARBECK — AVARICE OF THE KING — NEW WORLD DISCOVERED. 

The first act of Henry VII., after the battle of Bosworth, 
showed, in some degree, the character of the king. He 
entered the city of London, not mounted on a charger, as 
had been the wont of every sovereign of the Plantagenet race, 
but shut up in a close and clumsy carriage. Proceeding to 
St. Paul's, he offered on the high altar three standards : one, 
an image of St. George, the patron saint of England; the 
second a red dragon, and the third a dun cow. When the 
Te Deuui had been sung, the king repaired to the bishop's 



166 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

palace, whilst the people engaged in plays and pastimes, inter- 
spersed with religious pageants 

Henry VII. hated the house of York, but, finding that he 
might more securely hold his throne by a union with that 
house, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward 
IV. By this marriage the wars of York and Lan- 
caster were more effectually ended than they could have been 
by the most successful battle. 

The young Earl of Warwick, a nephew of the late king, 
was thrown into the Tower. He was a son of the unfortunate 
Duke of Clarence, and Henry feared lest the claim of this 
Yorkist prince should imperil the security of his own crown. 

Notwithstanding this precaution, his reign was disturbed by 
pretenders to the throne. The people of Ireland, who had 
been well governed by Richard, Duke of York, and by his son, 
the Duke of Clarence, were warmly attached to this house. 
When, therefore, a young and noble-looking boy landed in 
Ireland, claiming to be Earl of Warwick, the eldest 
son of the murdered Clarence, the warm-hearted 
Irish readily believed the story he told of his escape from the 
Tower, and gathered to his standard. Having no crown, a 
golden diadem, taken from a statue of the Virgin, was placed 
upon his brow in the Cathedral Church of Dublin, and he was 
saluted king, by the title of Edward VI. 

Meanwhile the English monarch took measures to defeat 
the claims of this impostor, who was in reality a baker's boy, 
named Lambert Simnel. He brought the real Earl of War- 
wick from the Tower, and paraded him through the streets 
of London. He then marched against Simnel, whom he met 
and totally routed at a little village in Yorkshire, not far from 
Newark. Lambert was taken prisoner, and Henry, to show 
his contempt for the enemy whom he had so easily defeated, 
spared his life, and made him a scullion in the royal kitchens. 
After this victory the king made a pilgrimage to the shrine 
of " Our Lady at Walsingham," and offered thereupon his 
victorious banner. 

Scarcely six years had passed away before the throne of 



HENRY VII. 167 

Henry Tudor was threatened by another and a more formi- 
dable impostor. This was Perkin Warbeck, the son 

1493. 

of a merchant of Tournay. He feigned to be Eichard, 
Duke of York, the younger of the two brothers whom the 
cruelty of Richard III. had put to a mysterious death in the 
Tower. Pretending to have escaped from that but too safe 
prison-house, he presented himself to Margaret, Duchess of 
Burgundy, a sister of Edward IV. She either believed, or 
was induced by her hatred of the house of Tudor, to affect 
to believe, that the young fugitive was indeed her nephew. 
She received him with every token of affection, bestowed on 
him the appellation of " the White Rose of England/' and 
gave money and men to aid him in getting the English 
throne. 

Joined by a few discontented exiles, he landed in Kent. 

None gathered to his standard, and a small body of 

the country people were sufficient to drive the invader 

back to Flanders. Not yet despairing of success, Warbeck, 

who is described as young, beautiful, and fascinating, went to 

Scotland. He was there welcomed with great cordiality by 

James IV., the king of that country, who was at 

enmity with the English. The accomplished and 

graceful Warbeck was entertained with feast and tournament. 

He was greeted as the true White Rose of England, and 

obtained in marriage the Lady Catherine Grordon, daughter 

of the Earl of Huntley, and one of the most beautiful women 

in the land. 

Warbeck, with his ally, the king of Scotland, and troops 
which the Duchess of Burgundy had contrived to send over, 
crossed the border. Henry sent against him a large force, 
under the Earl of Surrey. The pretender was driven back, 
and James IV. was prevailed upon to enter into a treaty with 
the English kino-. Warbeck left Scotland. Encou- 

1497. ° ° 

raged by an insurrection against Henry, among the 
people of Cornwall, he landed in that county, and marched 
as far as Taunton, in Somersetshire. Here he was met by the 
king's forces, defeated and obliged to fly to the sanctuary at 



168 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Beaulieu. Henry would not openly force this place of sacred 
refuge, but he induced Warbeck, by false promises, to put 
himself into the royal hands. The unfortunate impostor, 
though at first treated with some show of lenity, was subse- 
quently sent to the Tower. 

There he found a friend in the Earl of Warwick, his fellow 
prisoner. By the singular fascination of his manners, War- 
beck won the hearts of his keepers, and a rumor got abroad 
of a plot contrived against the king by the captives in the 
Tower. Tried on these charges, both Warbeck and the 
unhappy earl were found guilty and sentenced to death. The 
feelings of the nation were greatly excited by the execution 
of this sentence on the Earl of Warwick. He had been a pri- 
soner from childhood, and was now, they believed, put to death 
for a treason of which he was not guilty. 

One of Henry VII. 's vices was avarice. By confiscation 
and extortion, in which last he employed two noted lawyers, 
Empson and Dudley, he filled his coffers with gold. The love 
of money made him forget the gratitude he owed to those who 
had gained him his crown. Sir William Stanley had said : 
" that if he were sure that Perkin Warbeck was the son of 
Edward IV., he would never fight against him." These were 
but words, and uttered by the brother of the Lord 
Stanley whose desertion had, in great measure, won 
the field of Bosworth, and who, on that field, had placed the 
crown on Henry's brow. Sir William Stanley had himself, 
moreover, in that same battle, saved Henry Tudor's life, b*ut 
— he was the richest noble in the land, and so he perished as 
a traitor on the scaffold, and the king took all his wealth. 

About the time of Warbeck's rebellion there reached Eng- 
land wondrous tales of a new world discovered in the western 
seas. The maritime spirit of the country was aroused, and 
merchants and navigators longed to share the fame and the 
profit of the new discoveries. In the year 1496, Henry VII. 
granted a patent to a Venetian merchant of Bristol, named 
John Cabot, and to his three sons, to go on a voyage of dis- 
covery. John Cabot and his son Sebastian set ^ail from 



HENRY VII. 169 

England in May, 1497, and discovered land, which they 
called Prima Vista, or First Seen. It was probably either 
the coast of Labrador, or the island which still bears the 
name of Newfoundland. 

They were the first of that noble race of English mariners, 
the Hawkins, Frobishers, Drakes, Gilberts, and Raleighs, 
who, in the century about to open, began a glorious career 
of maritime adventure, and founded, in the New World, a 
nation rivalling in greatness the ancestry from which they 
sprang. 

During the winter of 1501-2 two important marriages took 
place in the family of the monarch. The one was that of his 
eldest son, Arthur, to Katherine of Arragon, a princess of 
Spain. The other was that of Henry's eldest daughter, 
Margaret, to King James IV. of Scotland, From the last- 
named union sprang the claim of the Stuarts to the crown of 
England — a claim which, in later times, as we shall see, 
proved fatal to its possessors. 

The marriage of Prince Arthur took place when the bride- 
groom was little more than fifteen years of age. It was cele- 
brated in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's, and the king 
on this occasion spent large sums in providing feasts, tourna- 
ments, and other entertainments for his" subjects. The boy 
lived only five months after the wedding which had been 
celebrated with so much magnificence. He died at Ludlow 
Castle, whither he had been sent to keep his court as Prince 
of Wales, The miser-king, unwilling to lose the dowry of the 
princess, affianced the young widow to his second son, Henry. 
The marriage did not take place until five years later, a few 
weeks after the young prince's accession to the throne. 

On the 21st of April, 1509, the king died, and was buried 
in the beautiful chapel in Westminster Abbey still called by 
his name. 



Questions. — Describe Henry VII.'s entry into London. — Mention 
his offerirgs at St. Paul's. — Whom did he marry? — What was the 
effect of this union? — In what way did Henry manifest his jealousy 
51 



170 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

of the house of York? — Relate the history of Lambert Simnel's 
imposture. — In what did it result? — Describe the pretensions and 
early success of Perkin Warbeck. — What misfortunes followed his 
second invasion of England. — Who suffered with Warbeck? 

What two lawyers aided Henry in his avaricious designs ? — What 
effect had the love of money upon the king's character ? — Mention 
the illustration of this given in Henry's treatment of Sir William 
Stanley. — What rumor reached England about the year 1495? — How 
did Henry manifest his interest in the new discoveries ? — What was 
the result of Cabot's first voyage ? — When did King Henry die ? — 
Where was he buried ? 



CHAPTER XXX. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

RELIGION — LEARNING — PRINTING — AGRICULTURE — ARCHITECTURE — DO- 
MESTIC COMFORT — GREAT MERCHANTS — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS — CON- 
DITION OP THE PEOPLE. 

During the early part of this century the church was very 
busy in persecuting the followers of Wickliffe, or Lollards, as 
they were frequently called. The fires which in another 
century burned so fiercely for the Reformers of the English 
Church, were first kindled at Smithfield, in the year 1401, 
and William Sautre, priest of St. Osyth's, in London, has the 
honor of being the first Protestant martyr of England. He 
was summoned before the primate and six other bishops, 
in St. Paul's Cathedral, there to undergo the sentence of 
degradation from the ministry of the church, prior to his 
being committed to the stake. The ceremonial was one cal- 
culated to fill the minds of the beholders with awe. The 
prelates were arrayed in the full splendor of their pontifical 
robes ; their victim stood before them in his priestly dress, 
holding in his hands the chalice and paten used in the 
administration of the Eucharist. The archbishop, solemnly 
pronouncing against the rector of St. Osyth's the deposition 



ENGLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 171 

from the priesthood, took out of his hands the tokens of his 
office, and removed the scarlet robe worn by him as a member 
of that order. To signify his degradation from the rank of 
deacon, a volume of the New Testament was taken out of his 
hands, and the stole or tippet removed from his shoulders. 
Then followed the laying aside of the surplice and scarf, to 
signify that he had lost the degree of sub-deacon. In like 
manner he was deposed from the inferior dignities of the 
church, down to that of sexton, which last was indicated by 
taking from him the surplice of that office, and the key of the 
church door. Finally, the tonsure was effaced, and a layman's 
cap put upon his head. When this impressive ceremony was 
concluded, the deposed priest of St. Osyth's was delivered 
into the hands of the secular power, and condemned to the 
stake. 

One of the most illustrious victims of the religious perse- 
cution of these days was (Sir John Oldcastle) Lord Cobham. 
This nobleman, when brought to trial, presented to his judges 
a paper containing a confession of his faith. It closes with 
these words, which are given not only as illustrating the 
doctrines for which he was condemned, but also as a specimen 
of the style of English written in the early part of this 
century : — 

" I suppose this, fully, that every man in this erthe is a 
pilgrime towarde blyss, or toward payne ; and that he that 
knoweth not, ne wole not knowe, ne kepe the holy com- 
mandements of God in his lyvying here, al be it, that he goo 
on pylgrimage to all the world, an he dy so, ho shall be 
dampned ; and he that knowytht he holy commandementys of 
Grod, and kepeth hem hys end, he shall be saved, tho' he 
nevir in hys lyve go on pilgrymage, as men use now, to Can- 
terbury or to Rome or to any othir place." 

Lord Cobham was a friend of Henry V., and that monarch 
endeavored to save him, by inducing him to give up his 
opinions. The nobleman, however, resisted all his efforts, 
refusing to confess the doctrine of transubstantiation, the 
necessity of pilgrimages, and the worship of saints. He was 



172 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

condemned and thrown into the Tower. He escaped and fled 
into Wales, where he remained several years; but was at 
length, in 1418, betrayed into the hands of his enemies and 
put to death. 

At Lambeth Palace may yet be seen the Lollard's Tower, 
built by Archbishop Chicheley, of Canterbury, for the impri- 
sonment of those accused of heresy. In the room at the top 
of the tower, the iron rings to which the prisoners were 
fastened, still remain fixed in the walls, and on the boards 
which compose them may be traced in rude letters the names 
of many of these early martyrs of Protestantism. One in- 
scription in Latin, " Sweet to die for Jesus/' is particularly 
touching. 

The miseries caused by the Wars of the Roses turned 
aside, for a while, the violence of religious persecution. 
Fuller, speaking of the Lollards in those days, says : " the 
very storm was their shelter." The veneration for holy wells, 
for shrines, for pilgrimages, and especially for the worship of 
the Virgin Mary, was at its height. One shrine, that of 
" Our Lady at Walsingham," in Norfolk, was resplendent 
with gold and jewels, the offerings of pilgrims; for, says an 
old historian, "whoever had not made a visit and an offering 
to the blessed Virgin of this place, was looked upon as impious 
and irreligious. " 

The power of the church was upheld by the authority of 
the clergy in parliament. Whilst other nobles were absent 
in wars, the spiritual peers were always in their places, and 
took care to carry such measures as should strengthen the 
influence of their order. 

The wars which distracted England were very unfavorable 
to the progress of learning. The youth of all classes, even 
the clergy not excepted, were expected to take up arms. 
Places of honor and profit were given, not to the learned and 
industrious scholar, but to the fawning favorites of the church. 
Meanwhile the students of the universities became mendi- 
cants, strolling from castle to castle, begging for support. 
Among the great u it was thought enough for noblemen's sons 



ENGLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 173 

to wind their horns and to carry their hawks fair, and leave 
study and learning to the children of mean people." 

There were, however, noble exceptions to this indifference 
to learning among men of rank. John Tiptoft, Earl of Wor- 
cester, after visiting the Holy Land and the countries of 
southern Europe, returned to England, and presented the 
valuable library which he had collected in his foreign travels, 
to the University of Oxford. This accomplished nobleman 
fell a victim to the civil wars. He was a Yorkist, and falling 
into the hands of the Lancastrians, was beheaded on Tower 
Hill in 1470. u The axe then," says Fuller, "did, at one 
blow, cut off more learning than was left in the heads of all 
the surviving nobility." 

Anthony AYoodville, Earl Rivers, a brother of the queen, 
was another accomplished nobleman. He had introduced at 
the court of Edward IY., the printer Caxton, and was the 
first English author who had the honor and gratification of 
seeing his works appear in print. He, too, as we have seen, 
fell a victim to the savage ferocity of those wars which 
respected neither learning nor piety. 

The Inns of Court produced in this century two distin- 
guished lawyers — Sir Thomas Littleton and Sir John Fortes- 
cue. Both of these judges composed law books of great 
value, and both lived to a good old age. Sir John Fortescue 
was ninety years old at the time of his death. 

Although learning in these days was far from being gene- 
rally appreciated, the building and endowing of scholastic 
edifices was still regarded as a work of piety, and during the 
fifteenth century no less than forty such institutions were 
founded in the different countries of Europe. At Oxford, 
Lincoln College was commenced by a bishop of Lincoln, who, 
from being a warm admirer, was won by church preferments 
to become a bitter opposer, of Wickliffe. He erected this 
college for scholars, the object of whose studies should be to 
overthrow the doctrines of the Lollards. 

Archbishop Chicheley, who built the Lollard's Tower at 
Lambeth, erected also at Oxford, in 1437, "All Souls College," 
15* 



174 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

wherein constant prayers and masses were to be offered for the 
souls of the departed, especially for those who had perished, or 
should perish, in the French wars. In this same university, 
on the banks of the quiet Cherwell, arose that noble specimen 
of Gothic architecture — the College of St. Mary Magdalene. 
It was founded by William de Waynflete, bishop of Win- 
chester and lord chancellor of England, in the year 1458. 
At Cambridge, King's and Queen's Colleges were erected by 
King Henry VI. and his wife Margaret of Anjou. The 
former also founded, opposite Windsor, the celebrated Eton 
College : 

" Where grateful Science still adores 
Her Henry's holy shade." 

The chapel of King's College is renowned for the beauty 
of its Gothic architecture. The roof, in its combination of 
massy strength with airy lightness, has never been equalled. 
It " looks," says an author in describing it, " as if cut at once 
by an invisible power out of a solid quarry of stone. As we 
walk under this incomparable arch, we behold in the centre, 
vast stones of more than a ton weight suspended over our 
heads, with no other support than the exquisite harmony of 
the whole." It is said that so great was Sir Christopher 
Wren's admiration of this noble work, that he went once 
every year to survey it, and remarked that if any man would 
show him where to place the first stone, he would engage to 
build such another. 

The professors of science at both of the universities had 
hitherto delivered their lectures in convents or private houses. 
To remedy the inconveniences attendant on this plan, there 
were erected during the present period, public schools, ex- 
pressly appropriated to the several departments of science. 
At Oxford, the magnificent divinity school and library was 
begun in 1427, and completed in 1480. Besides the rich 
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, it numbered archbishops and 
bishops among its liberal benefactors. The beauty of its 
architecture was appreciated even at that day. It is called 



ENGLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 175 

by a grateful recipient of its benefits, "a work worthy of 
G-odj as much superior to all the great edifices around it, in 
magnitude and beauty, as divinity, to which it is dedicated, is 
superior to all the other sciences." 

The studies of this age were mixed with much that was 
frivolous and fanciful. In medicine there was far more of 
superstition than of science. The discovery of the " elixir 
of life," a fabled remedy which was to cure all diseases, 
became one of the objects of the researches of the physician. 
Astrology and alchemy were so mixed up with the sciences of 
mathematics, astronomy, and chemistry, that few useful dis- 
coveries were made. Some writers suppose that the alche- 
mists of the middle ages were not seeking any chimera, such 
as the elixir of life, or the philosopher's stone, but that under 
these mystical terms they were teaching moral truth, and were 
obliged to use this symbolical language because of the ignorant 
and persecuting spirit of an age which would not tolerate a 
more clear and simple setting forth of religious truths. 

The art of printing was introduced into England by William 
Caxton, a native of Kent and a merchant of London. Caxton 
had resided some years in Flanders, and there learned the 
valuable art, which he brought into England in the year 
1474. The first book printed in England was a translation 
from the French, entitled " The Game and Playe of the 
Chesse." The titles of the first books published by Caxton, 
and other early English printers, discover the literary taste of 
that day. They are chiefly romances, the lives of saints, and 
books of devotion. Scarcely a book on science appears among 
them. 

Chaucer's works were among the earliest printed. A beau- 
tiful instance of the integrity of honest William Caxton is 
given in the preface of his second edition of the works of the 
first English poet. The manuscript from which he had 
printed the previous edition was exceedingly imperfect. When 
Caxton discovered this, he rested not until he had procured a 
better copy, and printed a correct edition, in the preface of 
which he states that he did it "for to satisfy the auctor, 



176 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

whereas before by ignorance I erred in hurting and defaming 
his book in divers places, in setting in some things that he 
never said he made, and leaving out many things that he 
made which been requisite to be set in." 

The language of the fifteenth century was more like modern 
English than it had hitherto been. One circumstance which 
retarded its progress was the unsettled orthography of those 
days. In examining the specimen given from Lord Cobham's 
confession of faith, it will be found that in a single piece of 
writing he spells the same words, such as commandments and 
pilgrimages, in two or three different ways. No two authors 
spelled alike, and there was no fixed standard. 

The wars of this age had not only an ill effect upon learn- 
ing, but also upon the useful arts. Agriculture was much 
neglected, and the nobles were obliged to turn large tracts 
into pasturages, and to depend for grain on the quantities 
brought from foreign countries, to be exchanged for English 
wool. Few vegetables were cultivated. Famines were fre- 
quent, and the poorer classes were often compelled to feed 
upon dried roots and herbs. In one village in Northumber- 
land, a writer declares that the inhabitants had never seen 
wine nor wheat bread. 

Although some beautiful churches and colleges arose in 
this century, architecture was not encouraged to so great an 
extent as in the preceding period. These were times when 
men were more employed in destroying edifices, than in 
building them. Not only churches and castles, but even 
whole villages, were destroyed during the wars of York and 
Lancaster. Within twelve miles of the town of Warwick, 
there was not less than sixty of these deserted villages. 

When the storm of war had subsided, and dwellings were 
rebuilt, they rose more in the form of manor houses, and had 
less of a castellated appearance than in former times. Beau- 
tiful oriel windows and rich oak carvings adorned these new 
edifices, and houses of brick began to take the place of those 
of wood. The bed-furniture was much more luxurious and 
ornamental than in any previous age. We hear, among the 



ENGLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 177 

better class, of feather-beds, mattrasses, pillows, blankets, and 
sheets ; also, of coverlets of tapestry, richly wrought, or of 
silk, embroidered with gold and silver, and also of minever, 
the latter being a handsome fur. 

The city mansions of the nobility, called inns, were of great 
extent. The great Earl of Warwick is said to have lodged 
six hundred men at his inn in Warwick Lane,. London, and 
six oxen were sometimes consumed there at a breakfast. 

The furniture of the houses was still very scanty. Painted 
ceilings no longer prevailed. The walls were again hung with 
tapestry, which was called arras, from the town in France 
where it was chiefly manufactured. 

The silk manufacture of England took its rise in this cen- 
tury. This branch of industry, now so important, was carried 
on at first by a small company of women. In 1455, a law was 
passed to protect these silk-women against the Lombards and 
other Italian merchants, who threatened, by their importations, 
to destroy the " mystery and occupation of silk- working," as it 
is designated in this statute. 

The Wars of the Roses seem not to have checked, in any 
great degree, commercial prosperity, for this age produced 
many enterprising and renowned merchants. The hero of the 
story of Whytington and his cat, so familiar to the ears of 
children, was a distinguished merchant of London. He was 
thrice lord mayor, but the story of his early poverty is no 
doubt false, as he was the son of a knight, and probably began 
life with fair prospects. He became very wealthy, lent large 
sums of money to his sovereign, aided in the erection of a 
college, and built an almshouse at Highgate. 

Another great merchant was William Canyngs, of Bristol. 
He engaged largely in the trade carried on with Iceland for 
fish. He, too, became no less than five times mayor of 
Bristol, founded the church of St. Mary's, and was a* liberal 
benefactor to his native city. Nor did crowned heads disdain 
to engage in the lucrative pursuits of trade. Edward IV. 
was one of the most active merchants in his kingdom. 
" Like a man whose living depended upon his merchandise," 



178 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

he exported the finest wool, cloth, tin, and other commodities 
of the kingdom, to Italy and Greece, and imported their pro- 
duce in return. 

Besides foreign commerce in which English ships engaged, 
they were extensively employed in the fisheries at home. 
The herring-fisheries on the coast of Norfolk had become 
extremely valuable, and the herring-fair, held yearly at Yar- 
mouth, was visited by shipping from all parts of Europe. 

The same extravagance in dress material, although, the 
fashion of wearing it changed, prevailed in this as in the last 
century. Heart-shaped, horned, and steepled head-dresses 
were fashionable among women, who wore also very short- 
waisted dresses, and broad belts of velvet fastened by large 
handsome buckles. They also wore trains. We hear of gold 
and silver cloth, silk, and velvet in abundance. In Ed- 
ward IV/s reign, purple was made a royal color, and all who 
did not belong to the royal family were forbidden to wear it. 
The dress of the common people was simple, and more sensible 
than that of the other classes. 

In the midst of war and famine, sumptuous feasting was 
still kept up in the abodes of the noble and wealthy. The 
two meals a clay were now multiplied to four — breakfast at 
seven, dinner at ten, supper at four in the afternoon, and a 
refreshment called livery, served in the bed-chamber between 
eight and nine o'clock in the evening. 

The dinner was spread on the long oaken table which 
stretched the entire length of the castle hall. At the head, 
on a dais or raised platform, sat the lord, with his friends and 
retainers. Below the great silver salt-cellar sat those of infe- 
rior rank. The board was loaded with fresh and salt meats, 
fowl, and fish. The food was eaten with the fingers, forks 
being then an unknown luxury. Wine, ale, and beer, from 
the neighboring sideboard, were served to the guests in cups 
of pewter or wood. 

Between the courses, was placed on the table a species 
of confectionery called a subtlety. It consisted of pastry 
or jellies made to represent human, animal, or allegorical 



ENGLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 179 

figures, to which a label was suspended, having some witty or 
puzzling writing upon it, intended to exercise the curiosity 
and ingenuity of the guests. On perches overhead stood the 
favorite hawks and falcons of the lord of the feast, whilst his 
hounds, of which there was a goodly number, lay at his feet. 
Three hours were consumed at dinner, during which the hall 
was filled with jugglers, minstrels, tumblers, and jesters, who 
performed antics for the amusement of the company. 

The motley dress of the fool, having the edges hung round 
with little sheep-bells, his cap, to which were hung asses' ears, 
and which was ridiculously ornamented with a feather, and 
his bauble or staff, finished off with the carved head of a 
zany; — all these, together with his broad jokes at the expense 
of the highest in the land, furnished an inexhaustible fund 
of amusement to the coarse taste of that age. 

The passion for tournaments somewhat declined by the 
close of the fifteenth century, but the taste for a species of 
exhibition called pageants was at its height. When Henry V. 
returned the victor from Agincourt, he was greeted by the 
citizens of London with a splendid pageant. On London 
Bridge stood the figure of a huge giant, which declaimed in 
rhyme a welcome to the king. On a turret stood a troop, 
representing angels, singing " Blessed is he that cometh in 
the name of the Lord." As he rode into the town through 
streets draped with silk and tapestry, he was met at intervals 
by similar displays. On a great conduit running with wine 
in Cheapside, stood figures of the twelve apostles, all chanting 
a welcome to the king. 

Cards, which were invented in this century, by a painter 
of Paris, were so costly, being richly illuminated, like the 
missals, by hand, that only the rich could afford to play with 
them. Among the lower classes, besides wrestling and arch- 
ery, games of ball and bowls were much indulged in. Blind- 
man's-buff, battledore and shuttlecock, swimming on bladders, 
twirling hoops, and skating, were favorite amusements among 
the young people of this age. 

The Wars of the Roses, although productive of so much 



180 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

evil, led to one grand result — they hastened the abolition 
of villanage and serfdom in England. The great lords were 
obliged to arm their villains in these wars, and it was difficult 
to compel their return to a state of servitude. Consequently, 
at the close of this century, we find the condition of the 
common people so prosperous, that laws were made to prevent 
their indulging in certain articles of luxury, which were con- 
sidered as the exclusive privilege of their superiors. 

The House of Commons during this period claimed two 
important rights: the one calling for an account of the 
expenditure of the supplies voted by them, and the other the 
right to impeach the ministers of the king for misconduct. 

Philip de Comines, a celebrated French chronicler of these 
times, makes the following declaration : " Of all the states in 
the world that I know, England is the country where the com- 
monwealth is best governed, and the people least oppressed." 

Questions. — Describe the instances given of religious persecution 
during this period. — Mention some of the superstitions which pre- 
vailed greatly in the fifteenth century. — Describe the effect of the 
Wars of the Roses upon learning. — What distinguished lawyers 
flourished in this century? — Describe the various foundations for 
learning during this period. 

What retarded the progress of true science in this age? — By whom 
and when was printing introduced? — What was the first book printed 
in England? — What kind of books found greatest favor in those 
days ? — What prevented the English language becoming fixed by 
one standard? — What was the consequence of the neglect of agri- 
culture during this period? 

How was architecture affected by the tumults of the time ? — How 
did the buildings which were erected after the wars differ from 
those of a former age ? — Relate the account given of the silk manu- 
facture. — Repeat what is said of the styles and materials of dress in 
this century. — Describe the arrangement of the dining-table in a 
great lord's hall. — Describe the pageant which the citizens of London 
prepared, to do honor to Henry V. — How did the lower orders and 
children amuse themselves ? — What great good was brought out of 
the evil of the wars of this age ? — What two important rights were 
claimed by the Commons during this century ? — What does a French 
writer say of England at this period ? 



HENRY VIII. 181 



PART VIII. 

ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

HENRY VIII.— EDWARD VI.— MARY— ELIZABETH. 
A. D. 1509—1603. 

"They sing a service which they feel, 
For 'tis the summer now of zeal, 
Of a pure faith the vernal prime, 
In the great Tudor's golden time." 

Words worth. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

HENRY VIII. — THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF HIS REIGN. 

WARS — WOLSEY — RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN PRINCES — THE KING'S DI- 
VORCE — wolsey's FALL. 

Thus early in the sixteenth century was Henry VIII., the 
second monarch of the house of Tudor, firnilv seated 

1509. . 

upon the throne, which the battle of Bosworth had 
won for his predecessor. 

In former ages, kings had ruled by force of arms, rather 
than by policy. The only check which the power of the 
monarch received had been from the great barons with whom 
he was occasionally at war. But now, the twenty battles of 
the wars of York and Lancaster, and the executions which 
too often followed them, had cut off the greatest of England's 
aristocracy. The commons were not yet strong enough to 
oppose the power of the kings, so that the royal authority in 
the hands of the spirited sovereigns of the house of Tudor, 
16 



182 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

was more absolute than at any other period of English 
history. 

In the pleasure-loving prince of eighteen who now ascended 
the throne, the people little dreamed they saw one who, before 
his reign of thirty-eight years should end, would prove one 
of the most violent and absolute monarchs that ever swayed a 
sceptre. But now " all went merry as a marriage bell/' 
Amidst jousts and tournaments, feasts and pageantries, the 
coronation of Henry VIII. and his young queen, Katherine 
of Arragon, was celebrated. The people rejoiced in the death 
of Empson and Dudley, the rapacious lawyers of Henry VII. 
They did not reflect that when the large treasures which 
these unprincipled men had amassed, should be spent in 
gratifying the magnificent tastes of the young monarch, the 
royal coffers of the spendthrift son would be supplied by 
means similar to those which had made the reign of the 
miser father so odious. 

Henry, possessing none of the talents of a great general, 
yet loved " the pomp and circumstance of glorious war," and 
thus was easily persuaded by his crafty father-in-law, the king 
of Spain, to engage in hostilities with France. With 
a well-equipped army, Henry crossed the Channel, 
and, announcing his arrival by the firing of great guns, 
coasted along the French shores. Nothing very important 
was done in this war, in which Henry was but a tool in the 
hands, first of the Spanish king, and finally of Maximilian, 
the emperor of Germany. In one battle the English gained 
a complete victory; the enemy, being seized with a panic, fled 
so rapidly from the field, that the French prisoners themselves 
merrily named it u The Battle of the Spurs." 

Although King James IV. of Scotland was brother-in-law 
to Henry VIII., he had become the ally of France, and 
whilst Henry was in that country, the war-challenge of the 
Scottish monarch was sent to him. Henry committed the 
conduct of an expedition against his hostile relative, into 
the hands of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey. At Flodden 



HENRY VIII. 183 

Field, among the Cheviot Hills, the English and 
Scotch armies met in combat, and there was fought 
one of the famous battles in English history. When night 
ended the conflict, King James of Scotland, with nine thou- 
sand of his noblest subjects, lay dead upon the field. " Scarce 
a Scottish family of eminence/' says Sir Walter Scott, " but 
has an ancestor killed at Flodden ; and there is no province 
in Scotland, even at this day, where the battle is mentioned 
without a sensation of sorrow and terror." 

" Tradition, legend, tune, and song, 
Still many an age that wail prolong, 
Still from the sire the son shall hear 
Of the stern strife and carnage drear, 

Of Flodden's fatal field, 
Where shivered was fair Scotland's spear, 

And broken was her shield !" — Marmion. 

By a treaty which terminated in 1514 the war with France, 
Mary, Henry YIII.'s youngest sister, was given in marriage 
to Louis XII., the French king. Among those who accom- 
panied the Princess Mary to France, was a pretty child, a 
maid of honor to the queen, named Anna Boleyn. At the 
French court she was to learn graces and accomplishments 
which, unaccompanied by principle, were destined to work 
sorrow enough on her return to England. A few months 
after his marriage with Mary of England, the French king 
died, and was succeeded by Francis I., a young, gay, and 
ambitious monarch. Four years later, died Maximilian, em- 
peror of Germany, and to the imperial throne succeeded 

Charles V., one of the ablest princes in Europe. 

Before the election of Charles, the French king had 
hoped to gain for himself the crown of the German Empire. 
When, therefore, Charles was chosen, Francis, from being his 
rival, became his enemy. Both these sovereigns sought the 
friendship and alliance of the king of England. But Henry 
VIII. was* now hardly master in his own dominions. The 



184 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

rule of England, both at home and abroad, was given into the 
hands of one remarkable courtier and favorite. The foreign 
sovereign and the English subject alike did homage to the 
all-potent influence of this " great child of honor." 

The man who possessed the genius to rule for twenty years 
one of the most absolute monarchs of his age, was Thomas 
Wolsey, the son of a wealthy butcher and drover of .Ipswich. 
At Oxford, where the young Wolsey studied, he attained so 
early to eminence, that at the time his first degree was 
bestowed, he was called the Boy Bachelor. His talents 
brought him into notice, and he was introduced to the king 
by Bishop Fox. Wolsey, to a genius for magnificence and 
display, added the policy of a statesman, and the wit and 
gaiety of a courtier. These qualities gave him unbounded 
influence over the pleasure-loving, vain-glorious monarch of 
England. He was made successively bishop of Lincoln, arch- 
bishop of York, cardinal, lord chancellor, and finally, papal 
legate. He was also abbot of St. Alban's, bishop of Bath and 
Wells, which see he subsequently exchanged for that of 
Durham, and the latter again for Winchester. His equipage 
and attire exceeded in magnificence that of Thomas a. Becket, 
whose splendor had dazzled the nation in a former age. 

The cardinal's " fine figure was set off with silks and satins 
of the finest texture, and richest scarlet or crimson dye ; his 
neck and shoulders were covered with a tippet of costly sables; 
his gloves were of red silk; his hat, of a cardinal, was scarlet; 
his shoes were of silver-gilt, inlaid with pearls and diamonds. 
***** jj e kept a train of eight hundred persons, 
amongst whom were nine or ten lords, the beggared descend- 
ants of proud barons. He had fifteen knights and forty 
squires. All his domestics were splendidly attired ; his cook 
wore a satin or velvet jacket, and a chain of gold round his 
neck. When Wolsey appeared in public, his cardinal's hat 
was borne before him by a person of rank : two priests, the 
tallest and best-looking that could be found, immediately pre- 
ceded him, carrying two ponderous silver crosses; two gentle- 



HENRY VIII. 185 

men, each bearing a silver staff, walked before the two priests, 
and in front of all went his pursuivant-at-arms, bearing a huge 
mace of silver-gilt. Most of his followers were mounted upon 
spirited horses, perfect in training and richly caparisoned; 
but he, himself, as a priest, rode on a mule, with saddle and 
saddle-cloth of crimson velvet, and stirrups of silver-gilt. At 
his levee, which he held every morning at an early hour, 
after a very short mass, he always appeared clad all in red."* 
The money which supported the state of this gorgeous 
churchman was not wrung from the people ; for in the early 
part of his career, Wolsey's domestic administration was for 
the most part, wise, just, and popular. The presents and 
bribes of foreign princes, together with the rich gifts of his 
royal master, rendered his revenue princely. 

Francis I., desirous of continuing the treaty with 

1519. 

England, proposed a personal interview with King 
Henry. To counteract the effect of this, the Emperor Charles 
hastened to England, on pretence of a visit to his aunt, the 
English queen. By the tempting promise of using his influ- 
ence to secure to Wolsey the papal throne on the death of the 
reigning pontiff, he engaged that ambitious statesman to 
render the approaching interview between Henry and Francis 
of none effect. The interview did take place in France, not 
far from Calais. The splendors of the jousts and tournaments, 
of the balls and feastings, and in fact of all the magnificence 
ena'cted on the Field of the Cloth of Gold, recall the iables 
of the Arabian Nights Entertainments. A fortnight was 
consumed in this interview, during which whole estates were 
spent in contributing to a vain-glorious display. Nor did the 
peace which was entered into, by any means, " value the cost 
which did conclude it." 

In two years it was broken, and Henry, or Wolsey 

rather, was in close alliance with the emperor. This 
lasted until the year 1523, when Pope Adrian died. He was 

* Pictorial History of England. 
16* 



186 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the second Pope whose death had left vacant the papal throne 
since the promise given by the emperor to Wolsey. The 
cardinal now certainly expected to gain the height of his 
ambition, but he was disappointed. Pope Clement VII. was 
elected, and Wolsey, though at first dissembling his anger, 
was no longer Charles's friend, and two years later persuaded 
his royal master to enter again into treaty with Francis I. 
But the career of the proud cardinal was drawing to a close. 
In the year 1527, circumstances occurred which drew upon 
him the full weight of the monarch's displeasure. The king, 
possessed with the desire of marrying the fascinating Anna 
Boleyn, who had returned from France, and was now a maid 
of honor to the English queen, endeavored to obtain a divorce. 
With this object, Henry applied to the Pope, pleading con- 
scientious scruples regarding the lawfulness of his marriage 
with Katherine of Arragon, because she had been previously 
married to his brother Arthur. 

At first, Cardinal- Wolsey encouraged the idea of the di- 
vorce, having planned to unite his royal master to a French 
princess. When, however, he found Henry bent on wedding 
Anna Boleyn, he became lukewarm in the matter. This 
opposition to the ambitious maid of honor wrought the ruin 
of the powerful cardinal. Nothing could deter the king from 
his purpose. Although the Pope, through fear of Katherine's 
powerful nephew, the G-erman emperor ; refused to 
issue a bill of divorce, Henry would not yield, and 
only became more irritated against those who opposed him. 

Whilst the king was in this frame of mind, Thomas Cran- 
mer, a tutor in the family of an English gentleman, chanced 
to say, in the hearing of G-ardiner, the king's secretary, that 
the proper way to settle the lawfulness of the king's marriage, 
would be to appeal to the learned men of the universities 
of Europe, who would decide the question upon the authority 
of Scripture, without any further regard to the Pope. This 
proposition being reported, was forthwith adopted by Heniy, 
who raised the author of it to the post of royal chaplain. 



HENRY VIII. 187 

Cranmer afterwards became archbishop of Canterbury, and in 
another reign we shall find him the most distinguished re- 
former of the English church. 

Oxford and Cambridge, Padua, Bologna, Ferrara, Paris, 
Orleans, and other famous universities, declared, that, by the 
law of God, a marriage with a brother's wife was forbidden. 
These opinions of the learned encouraged Henry in the pro- 
secution of his design. 

Meanwhile the great cardinal had fallen. Accused of vio- 
lating the law of the land, in acting as papal legate in England, 
he was removed from his magnificent palace at York-Place, to 
his country-seat at Esher. Soon afterwards the great seal 
was taken from him, and he was commanded to retire to his 
see of York. Here he devoted himself to the charge of his 
people, like a good and worthy bishop. He gave alms to the 
poor, and set about rebuilding and repairing the churches and 
religious houses, in which work he employed hundreds of 
laborers. Thus, in doing good and winning the affection of 
all about him, Wolsey, " who had trod the ways of glory," no 
doubt enjoyed more real happiness than he had ever known 
in the day of his greatness. 

But this was not to last. Accused of correspondence with 
the Pope and the French king, he was arrested for high 
treason. This was his death-blow. He lived not to pass 
through the Traitor's Gate into the Tower. Beaching Lei- 
cester Abbey on his journey to London, he grew too ill to go 
further. Dismounting from his mule at the door of the con- 
vent, where stood the monks with lighted tapers to receive 
him, he said to the abbot: " Father, I am come to 'lay my 
bones among you." Among Wolsey's dying words was the 
sad remorseful confession — 

" Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king, He would not in mine age 
Have left me naked to mine enemies." 

Thus did this great man give witness to the truth of the 



188 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Psalmist's warning : "Put not your trust in princes, nor in 
any child of man, for there is no help in them." 

Questions. — How had kings ruled in times preceding the six- 
teenth century ? — Describe the condition of the royal authority at 
the opening of this century. — What was the character and age of 
Henry VIII. at the time of his accession to the throne ? — What kind 
of a monarch did he prove? — How was his coronation celebrated? — 
With what country did Henry make war ? — What one victory did 
Henry gain in this Avar ?— What relative of Henry VIII.'s became the 
ally of France ? — What war was the result of this alliance ?— What 
celebrated battle was fought ?— What was the issue to the Scottish 
monarch and his kingdom ? 

Whom did the English Princess Mary marry ? — What is said of 
Anna Boleyn at the time of this marriage ? — Who succeeded Louis 
XII. on the throne of France? — What other sovereign died a few 
years later ? — Name his successor. — What were now the relations 
between Charles and Francis ? — What was Henry's position at this 
time? 

Give some account of the early history of Cardinal Wolsey. — Men- 
tion the honors conferred upon him by the king. — Describe his ap- 
pearance.— Describe the state in which he made his public appear- 
ance. — What is said of Wolsey as a statesman ? — Whence did he 
obtain his riches ? — What steps did the German emperor take to 
counteract the French treaty ? — How was Wolsey's favor secured ? — 
Describe the interview between the kings of England and France. — 
What is said of the treaty then concluded ? — State the circumstances 
which led to Wolsey's final quarrel with' the king. — What passion 
now possessed the English monarch ? — On what plea did he apply 
for a divorce from his queen ? — Describe Wolsey's conduct in this 
matter. — What was the effect of Wolsey's opposition? — Why did the 
Pope refuse a divorce ? — Repeat the suggestion made at this time 
by Thomas Cranmer. — State the effect of this suggestion. — What 
accusation was brought against Wolsey? — Of what was he deprived ? 
— Describe Wolsey's conduct at this time. — Describe the close of this 
great man's career. 



HENRY VIII. 189 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

HENRY VIII. — THE LAST EIGHTEEN YEARS OP HIS REIGN. 

SIR THOMAS MORE — OVERTHROW OP PAPAL POWER — ANNE BOLEYN — 
REFORMATION— SCOTLAND— FRANCE — THE HOWARDS. 

When the great seal of the chancellorship was taken from 
Cardinal Wolsey, it was given to Sir Thomas More. 
To receive this perilous honor, the new chancellor 
was drawn from a beautiful retirement at Chelsea. Fain 
would he have remained in the midst of his happy and 
accomplished family, his beautiful gardens, his well-stored 
library, and literary enjoyments, and not have tasted the 
favor of his capricious sovereign. One of the learned men 
of this age, the celebrated Greek scholar Erasmus, often 
visited Sir Thomas More, and writes thus in praise of the 
happy home at Chelsea: — "A house in which every one 
studies the liberal sciences, where the principal care is virtue 
and piety, where idleness never appears, where intemperate 
language is never heard, where regularity and order are pre- 
served by dint of kindness and courtesy, where every one 
performs his duty, and yet all are so cheerful as if mirth 
were their only employment, — such a house ought rather to 
be termed a practical school of the Christian religion." 

For four years Sir Thomas More retained the seals, and 

also the favor of his royal master. He proved an upright 

and incorruptible judge. The number of suits depending 

in the Court of Chancery when he came into office, was not 

only great, but many had been of twenty years' standing. So 

untiring was the new chancellor in the discharge of 

his duties, that ere he had held the office two years, 

he was answered, when after deciding one cause, he summoned 

another v that " there was not one suit more depending." 

Sir Thomas More would not unite in the persecution to 



190 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

which Queen Katherine was subjected whilst Henry was 
endeavoring to procure the divorce. Nor would he favor 
the separation from the Church of Rome, towards which the 
acts of the king now tended. He knew, therefore, that ruin 
would probably be the result of a longer continuance at court. 
Pleading advancing years, he gave up the chancellorship, and 
retired, a poorer but a happier man, to his beloved home at 
Chelsea. But, alas ! there was not that spot in 

1533. ; , L 

England, however graced by innocence, learning, or 
piety, which might prove a shelter from the despotic will of 
Henry VIII. At the close of the year 1532 the king was 
privately married to Anna Boleyn, and in June of the follow- 
ing year she was publicly crowned queen. Cranmer, now 
archbishop of Canterbury, convened an ecclesiastical court, in 
which Henry's marriage with Katherine of Arragon was 
declared null and void. This gentle, yet high-spirited woman, 
who never for a moment had yielded her claim as the lawful 
wife of Henry, was banished from court, and died at Kimbol- 
ton, in 1536, three years after the king's marriage with Anna 
Boleyn. On her death-bed Katherine earnestly desired to 
see her daughter, the Princess Mary, -but her request was 
refused. 

On the 30th of March, in the year 1534, the parliament 
of England gave the death-blow to papal power in their 
country, by acknowledging the king as the head of the 
English Church. It was now required of English subjects 
to take the oath of supremacy. This was refused by those 
Catholics who believed in the Pope alone as the supreme 
head of the Christian church in all lands. Their lives paid 
the penalty of their refusal. Many a zealous monk and 
priest suffered in this cause ; but the fame of two illustrious 
victims obscures that of all the others. Sir Thomas More 
was a zealous Roman Catholic. He refused the oath of 
supremacy. The upright chancellor, the learned scholar, the 
steady friend, and the pious Christian, were alike forgotten 
by the absolute monarch, who only saw in him now the man 
who opposed his will. 



HENRY VIII. 191 

Sir Thomas More, together with his aged friend, Bishop 
Fisher, was thrown into the Tower. The latter was, like 
More, an early friend and companion of the king. He was 
also one of the most learned men in Europe. While he lay 
a prisoner in the Tower, the Pope, out of his great respect to 
the virtue and wisdom of the aged prelate, suffering in the 
cause of the church, sent him a cardinal's hat. " Ha !" 
exclaimed the cruel king, " Paul may send him the hat ; I 
will take care that he have never a head to wear it on." The 
bishop was beheaded on the 22d June, 1535. 

A few days afterwards, Sir Thomas More was brought to 
trial. In Westminster Hall, where he once presided in honor, 
he now appeared clad in a coarse woollen robe, pale and 
emaciated from the rigors of his year's imprisonment, to be 
tried by judges, who to do the king a pleasure, were resolved 
on his conviction. More pleaded that he had never sought 
" to deprive the king of his new title of supreme head of the 
church : all that he had done was to be silent thereon, and 
that silence was not treason." But the corrupt judges pro- 
nounced that silence was treason, and under this wicked sen- 
tence the jury returned a verdict of guilty. His conduct, both 
at his trial and on the scaffold, was the perfection of Christian 
meekness and charity. He suffered on the 6th July, only 
fourteen days after the execution of his friend Fisher. 

All Europe was roused to indignation, by the news that 
these two accomplished scholars had laid their heads upon 
the executioner's block. When told of the chancellor's 
death, the Emperor Charles V. exclaimed : " I should rather 
have lost the best city in my dominions than so worthy a 
counsellor " When the tidings of the execution were brought 
to King Henry, he was playing at chess with Anne Boleyn 
Rising hastily, he looked with a stern countenance at the 
queen, saying: "Thou art the cause of the death of this 
man !" and left the room, for a moment conscience-smitten 
by this deed of guilt. 

It would seem impossible that the king should show 
displeasure towards the wife for whom he had sacrificed the 



192 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

happiness of his noble queen, Wolsey, the friend of twenty 
years, and some of the best blood in the kingdom. But what 
trust can be placed in the constancy of a heart swayed by 
passion ? 

The harsh words uttered on the occasion of Sir Thomas 
M ore's death, were but the prelude to a more fatal burst of 
the royal displeasure. The capricious monarch had bestowed 
his affections upon the Lady Jane Seymour, a maid of honor 
to his new queen, and Anna Boleyn was now to suffer by the 
same arts which she had used to supplant her own royal 
mistress. A few months after the unhappy Katherine of 
Arragon had breathed her last, amid the solitude and deser- 
tion of Kimbolton, Queen Anna Boleyn was arrested 
on the accusation of being unfaithful to the king. 
She was tried, and though the charges brought against her 
were not proved, she was declared guilty, and received sen- 
tence of death. 

Under an oak-tree in Greenwich Park, the monarch impa- 
tiently awaited the execution. When the booming of the 
Tower gun told him that the axe of the executioner had 
fallen on the neck of his beautiful and unhappy queen, 
Henry exclaimed : " The business is done : uncouple the 
dogs and let us follow the sport !" And thus, attended by 
all the excitement of the chase, he went to Wolf Hall, in 
Wiltshire, and the next day brought thence, as his bride, the 
new queen, Jane Seymour. Anna Boleyn left one child, the 
Princess Elizabeth. 

Henry, by declaring himself " Head of the Church/' had 
put an end to the papal power in England, which was of itself 
a great step towards the Reformation. The motives of the 
king in this work were too selfish and sordid, however, for 
the establishment of a pure and Protestant Church in his 
dominions. Romanist and Protestant suffered alike in his 
reign. At the same stake perished one who denied the 
doctrine of transubstantiation, and another who denied the 
king's supremacy. To obtain the wealth contained therein, 



HENRY VIII. 193 

hundreds of abbeys, monasteries, and religious houses were 
put down, and monks and nuns turned adrift upon the world. 

These houses were not alone the "cages of unclean birds," 
as their destroyers called them. They had been also the 
refuge for the persecuted, and had served as hospitals for the 
poor. They had been, in many a wild district, "inns for the 
wayfaring man, who heard from afar the sound of the vesper- 
bell, inviting at once to repose and devotion." They had 
given employment to hundreds, who had tilled the abbey or 
glebe lands, or tended the large flocks and herds belonging to 
the monasteries. They were also the repositories of learning 
and the fine arts, containing many a valued library, beautiful 
painting, statuary, and sculpture. When Henry, in 
one year, suppressed three hundred and seventy-six 
monasteries, an insurrection followed, which was especially 
violent in the north of England. 

The Duke of Norfolk was sent against the insurgents, but 
u not until the pleasant banks of the Tweed, the Tyne, the 
Tees, the Don, and the Trent, were loathsome with the 
number of ghastly heads and reeking members, was a pardon 
proclaimed." The king then accused many of the richer 
priories and abbeys of having aided this rebellion, and they 
too fell a prey to his rapacity. The most magnificent shrines 
in the kingdom were despoiled. Even the tomb of Thomas a 
Becket, so long the favorite saint of England, and the famous 
shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham, to which Henry, when a 
child, had once made a pilgrimage barefoot, and presented 
a costly necklace, were now robbed of their rich, time-honored 
treasures. 

Cranmer, who had been made archbishop of Canterbury, 
did all that he could, under such an uncertain and despotic 
master, to further the real work of the Reformation. He 
caused an English translation of the Bible to be placed in 
every parish church, and the priests were commanded to 
expound the Scriptures to the people in plain English. 
Cranmer had married the niece of Osiander, a Protestant 
IT N 



194 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

pastor of Nuremburg. He was obliged to conceal this mar- 
riage, as his royal master still held to the doctrine of the 
celibacy of the clergy ; and at one time he was compelled to 
send his wife and children back to Germany. 

In the year 1537, a few days after the birth of her son, 
Prince Edward, the queen, Jane Seymour, died. The king 
now made proposals of marriage to various foreign princesses. 
One of these, the Duchess of Milan, is said to have replied to 
the addresses of the royal Blue-Beard, that "if she had two 
heads, one would have been at the service of his majesty of 
England." His minister, Cromwell, Earl of Essex, beiDg a 
promoter of the cause of the Beformation, was anxious to 
have Henry marry a Protestant princess of Germany. He 
procured a likeness of Anne, Duchess of Cleves, painted by 
Hans Holbein, a very celebrated Dutch painter, and presented 
it to the king. Henry was much pleased with the picture, 
and consented to the marriage ; but when he saw the 

1539. . 7- 

original, he was so much displeased, that he did not 
rest until he had procured a divorce. Anne of Cleves, who 
seems to have been a good and prudent woman, was no doubt 
glad to resign her queenship without the loss of her head. 
Cromwell, the unfortunate adviser of this match, perished on 
the scaffold, having been tried on a charge of treason and 
heresy. 

Henry VIII. now married Katherine Howard, a 

1540. J . ' 

grand-niece of the victor of Flodden Field. This 
marriage proved an unhappy one. In less than two years the 
queen was tried on charges similar to those brought against 
Anna Boleyn. She was condemned to die, and meekly 
suffered the sentence. 

Ever since the battle of Flodden Field, there had been no 
real peace between England and Scotland. In the year 
1541, Henry, fearing that his nephew, James V., was making 
foreign alliances which would strengthen him against England, 
proposed an interview at York. The English king went at 
the time appointed, but James, being detained by his courtiers, 
was not there. This insult so irritated Henry, that he forth- 



HENRY VIII- 195 

with declared war against Scotland. In 1542, the battle of 
Solway Moss was fought, in which the Scots, were severely 
defeated, and their king died of a broken heart a few days 
after. About a week previous to his death occurred the birth 
of his daughter, — the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. 
Henry VIII. proposed peace to the Scots, on condition that 
this infant princess should be betrothed to his son, the young 
Edward. This union would have brought peace to the two 
countries by uniting them under one rule. Henry, however, 
showed so evidently that during the minority of the princess 
he meant to hold the power in his own hands, that the Scots 
were averse to the treaty, and the war still went on. 

Henry's sixth and last wife was Lady Katherine Parr, the 
widow of Lord Latimer. She was an English woman and a 
Protestant, and to the three children of Henry — Mary, Eliza- 
beth, and Edward — she proved a good and judicious mother. 
This queen narrowly escaped being arrested on charge of 
heresy. Having read some of the books of the reformers, 
which were prohibited, she one evening disputed with the 
king on a point of religious belief. Henry, greatly exaspe- 
rated, gave the order for her arrest, but she, seeing her 
danger, expressed to him, the next evening, her sense of the 
blessing she possessed in having so learned a prince for her 
husband and instructor. " Not so," said the king, " I know 
you, Kate, you are become a doctor -" whereupon she replied 
that he had mistaken her motive in arguing with him — it was 
merely to amuse him, and induce him to forget his bodily 
sufferings. " Ah ! is it so, sweetheart ! then we are friends 
again I" replied Henry ; and when the chancellor came to 
arrest the queen, he was driven from the presence with abu- 
sive epithets. 

In 1544, Henry engaged in a war against France. He 
conducted his troops in person, and laid siege to the town of 
Boulogne. Immense sums were lavished in this brief and 
mismanaged war. In less than two years, Henry was obliged 
to make peace, and agree to the surrender of Boulogne, on 



196 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the payment of certain sums of money promised by the 
French king. g 

Henry's hatred against every scion of the house of Planta- 
genet was implacable. In the early part of his reign he had 
put to death Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, a de- 
scendant of Edward III. Later, the Countess of Salisbury, a 
daughter of the Duke of Clarence, and niece of Edward IV., 
had fallen a sacrifice to his cruel jealousy. Accused of cor- 
responding with her son, a Romish cardinal, she was thrown 
into prison at the age of seventy, and afterwards beheaded. 
She was imprisoned during the reign of Queen Kathe- 
rine Howard, and one of the few traces which remain 
of the character of that unfortunate lady, is an order which 
she gave for furred mantles and warm clothing for this aged 
countess, the last of the Plantagenets, who lay, during the 
winter's cold, a prisoner in the dungeons of the Tower. The 
closing year of Henry's reign was marked by the 
attainder of the noble family of the Howards, in the 
persons of the Duke of Norfolk and his brave and accom- 
plished son the Earl of Surrey. 

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was accused of treason, for 
having borne the arms of Edward the Confessor quartered on 
his shield with his own. On this frivolous charge he was 
condemned to the block. A few days after the execution of 
the lamented Surrey, the order went forth from the king for 
that of his a°;ed father, the Duke of Norfolk, but ere 

1547. - ° , ' 

the morning of the day of the execution came, 
Henry VIII. had gone to his account. He died the 28th 
January, 1547. 

Questions. — On whom was the great seal bestowed after it was 
taken from Wolsey ? — Describe the home attractions which Sir Tho- 
mas More was loth to relinquish. — What can you say of his cha- 
racter as chancellor? — What conduct of the king did Sir Thomas 
More oppose ? — What course did he therefore adopt ? — Whom did 
the king marry in 1532 ? — What became of the divorced queen ? 

When and by what act was the power of the Pope in England 
overthrown ? — What was now required of English subjects ? — Who 



EDWARD VI. 197 

refused this ? — Describe the treatment of Sir Thomas More in conse- 
quence of this refusal. — What impression was made throughout Eu- 
rope by this treatment? — Relate the emotion of the king upon this 
occasion. — Describe the downfall of Anna Boleyn. 

What important step tOAvards the Reformation was accomplished 
by Henry ? — Describe Henry's inconsistent conduct with regard to 
religion. — What good purposes had the religious houses served ? — 
What was Henry's treatment of these institutions ? — Describe Cran- 
mer's labors in the cause of the Reformation. — What events occurred 
in the royal household in 1537? — Who was Henry VIII. 's fifth wife? 
— Relate the brief history of this marriage. 

Give some account of the relations between England and Scotland 
at this time. — Mention the results of the battle of Solway Moss. — 
On what terms did Henry offer peace to Scotland? — What dispo- 
sition on the part of Henry prevented the Scots accepting the 
treaty ? — Whom did Henry marry for his sixth and last wife ? — ■ 
What danger did she narrowly escape? — Relate the circumstance. — 
In what war did Henry engage towards the close of his reign ? — 
When was peace made ? — Mention the several victims of Henry's 
jealousy and their fate. — What family fell under the king's displea- 
sure during the later years of his reign? — What charge was brought 
against the Earl of Surrey ? — What was his sentence ? 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

EDWARD VI. 



the protector — intrigues — reformation somersets downfall — 

Northumberland's schemes. 

It was not alone the tyranny of Henry VIII. which had 
led to the downfall of the Howards. The Seymours, 

154:7. .,,... J ' 

who had risen into importance after their sister's 
marriage with the king, were jealous of this ancient and 
noble house. The Howards were Homan Catholics, the 
Seymours favored the Reformation. The latter feared lest 
their influence with the young prince, their nephew, should 
be overruled, and their measures thwarted, when he became 
17* 



198 HISTORY Or ENGLAND. 

king, by the Duke of Norfolk and Earl Surrey. They, there- 
fore, had inflamed the mind of King Henry against them. 
But we shall see that "in the net which they spread for 
others, their own feet were taken." 

Prince Edward being only ten years old at the time of his 
father's death, a council of regency was appointed. At its 
first meeting, Seymour, Earl of Hertford, was created Duke 
of Somerset, made Protector of the kingdom, and Immediately 
took the management of the realm into his own hands. 

One of the dying injunctions of Henry VIII. to the council 
was, that they should endeavor, by all means, to bring about 
a marriage between Edward VI. and the young queen of 
Scots. This Somerset tried to effect; but a large party in 
Scotland, headed by the Eoman Catholic Earl of Arran, and 
the queen mother, Mary of Gruise, violently opposed the 
union. The Duke of Somerset marched a large army into 
Scotland, hoping to compel the opposing party, who were 
aided by the king of France, to compliance. He gained a 
decided victory near Edinburgh, but, influenced by personal 
interests, returned to England without following up his advan- 
tages. Several years later, the Scots, who declared " they 
liked not the manner of the English wooing," sent their 
young queen to France, where she became the wife of 
Francis II., afterwards king of that country. 

Thomas Seymour, who had been created lord high admiral, 
was an ambitious man, and soon became jealous of the power 
and honors which his brother, the Protector, had obtained. 
He took advantage of Somerset's absence in Scotland to sup- 
plant his influence with the young king. This Seymour could 
the more readily accomplish, having married Katherine Parr, 
the widow of the late monarch. After the death of this lady, 
Seymour was suspected of aspiring to the hand of the Prin- 
cess Elizabeth. This led to an open quarrel between the two 
brothers. The admiral was arrested, tried on a charge of high 
treason, and beheaded. 

The Reformation of the church of England was fairly 
established during this reign, by the united efforts of the 



EDWARD VI. 199 

king, the protector, and the archbishop of Canterbury. A 
liturgy was compiled by the latter; the sacrifice of the mass 
gave place to the communion service; and every parish 
church was ordered to provide itself with a copy of the 
English Bible. The best preachers of the reformed doctrines 
were sent throughout the kingdom to instruct the people, and 
a set of injunctions was drawn up containing the proper 
doctrines to be preached .and received, and whoever refused 
them was threatened with punishment. 

The breaking up of the religious houses, and the turning 
of land into enclosures for pasturage, had thrown upon Eng- 
land a large class of poor, who could obtain no work. They 
charged these evils to the abolishing of the old religion. 
Large bodies of men rose in rebellion, demanding the restora- 
tion of Romanism and the breaking down of enclosures. 
Scarcely a county in England was free from these insurrec- 
tions, but they continued longest and with greatest 

1549. 3 J o fc> • 

violence in Norfolk. At length the Duke of War- 
wick, with an army of six thousand men, marched into that 
county, and, after a bloody victory, succeeded in quelling the 
disturbances. 

The execution of his brother had not rendered Somerset's 
position more secure. He was exceedingly vain, and the 
honors and titles which he heaped upon himself, together 
with his inefficiency in the management of the government, 
procured him enemies. He built a very splendid and costly 
mansion named from himself, Somerset House, and was 
accused of spending upon his own luxuries those sums which 
should have been appropriated for the expenses of the king- 
dom. His enemies were headed by Robert Dudley, Earl of 
Warwick, who, since his victory over the rebels, had gained 
great influence with the nation, and now aspired to supreme 
authority. 

Somerset was accused of treasons and misdemeanors, de- 
prived of the protectorship, and thrown into the Tower. 
Warwick was then made Earl of Northumberland, and exer- 
cised entire control over the mind of the king. Somerset 



200 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

was afterwards restored to his place in the council : 

1550. r . ' 

but, beiDg suspected of attempting to regain his 
former position, he was tried for treason, and beheaded in 
January, 1552. 

The religion of his half-sister, Mary, was a source of great 
anxiety to the young king. She was a zealous Roman 
Catholic, and insisted upon having the mass performed by 
her chaplains. Every effort was made to induce her to 
change her faith, but without avail, and nothing but the fear 
of a war with the German emperor, who protected Mary in 
her religion, prevented the English parliament from forcing 
her to abandon even the most private observance of the rites 
of the church of Rome. 

The health of Edward was now fast declining. 

Guilford Dudley, a son of the Earl of Northumber- 
land, had married the Lady Jane Grey. She was a Protest- 
ant, and, through her mother, a descendant of Henry VII. 
Using his influence with the king, Northumberland urged 
Edward to deprive his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, of 

their inheritance, and to name his Protestant cousin, 

1553. ' . J 

the Lady Jane Grey, his lawful successor to the 
throne. Edward was willing to exclude Mary, for, she being 
a Roman Catholic, he feared the effect of her elevation upon 
the reformed religion ; but he was reluctant to deprive Eliza- 
beth of the succession. At length, a few days before his 
death, the king was induced to sign a paper, bequeathing his 
crown to the Lady Jane Grey ; — a will which secured nothing 
to the guilty planners of it but disgrace and ruin, and brought 
an innocent and beautiful young victim to the block. 

Questions. — What family had risen to power during Henry VIII. 's 
reign? — Who was made Protector of the kingdom? — What injunc- 
tion had Henry left to his council? — What party in Scotland opposed 
this union? — Describe Somerset's efforts to force the Scots into com- 
pliance. — What jealousy displayed itself in the family of the Pro- 
tector? — By what means did Seymour endeavor to supplant his 
brother ? — What was the result ? 

Describe the progress made during this reign in the Protestant 



QUEEN MARY. 201 

Reformation — To what did the poor ascribe the evils which they 
suffered ? — "What measures did they take to procure redress ? — With 
what result ? 

What conduct on the part of the Protector raised up enemies ? — 
What was the aim of Warwick ? — What was the result of these plot- 
tings against Somerset ? — Relate Somerset's subsequent history. — 
Describe Mary's conduct with regard to her religion. — Relate North- 
umberland's schemes for securing the crown to his own family. — 
How far was Edward willing to lend himself to these designs? — 
What was his final action in the matter ? 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

QUEEN MARY. 

LADY JANE GREY — CHARACTER OF THE QUEEN RESTORATION OF ROMAN- 
ISM — THE QUEEN'S MARRIAGE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES — PROTESTANT 
MARTYRS — LOSS OF CALAIS. 

On the death of the young king, the situation of the two 
princesses, Mary and Elizabeth, was perilous in the 
extreme. The Earl of Northumberland, a few days 
previous to the death of their brother, had summoned them 
both to court. Mary, aware of the ambitious earl's designs, 
made no haste in her journey, and learning the king's death, 
on her route towards London, turned aside and went to one 
of her castles on the coast of Suffolk. Elizabeth, warned by 
her friend, Sir William Cecil, did not obey the summons. 

Among the people of England, whether Protestant or 
Roman Catholic, a strong feeling of hereditary right prevailed. 
Therefore, although a large portion of the nation rather feared 
Mary's accession, on account of her religion, their sense of 
right overcame their fears, and notwithstanding all the plot- 
tings of the ambitious Northumberland, he was unable to 
secure the crown to his daughter-in-law. 

Lady Jane Grey had no desire to leave the charms of her 
happy domestic life, for the perils of a throne, but her gentle 



202 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

pleadings had no effect upon her aspiring father-in-law. For 
ten joyless days, a few of the people called her queen; then, 
Mary's right prevailed, and the Lady Jane, with her young 
husband, exchanged a throne for the dismal dungeons of the 
Tower. The Duke of Northumberland was beheaded, and his 
body interred by the side of his own victim, the Duke of 
Somerset. " Before the high altar, in St. Peter's Chapel, in 
the Tower, lay two headless dukes between two headless 
queens : the Dukes of Northumberland -and Somerset between 
Queens Anna Boleyn and Katherine Howard." 

The Princess Mary was thirty-seven years of age when she 
came to the throne. Those thirty-seven years had been a 
period of gloom and terror to the unhappy daughter of Kathe- 
rine of Arragon. The wrongs which the mother had suffered 
the daughter never forgot. Mary was devoted to the Roman 
Catholic faith, and reigned only to restore her kingdom to the 
communion of what she considered the true church. The 
life of fear and persecution which she had led, had weakened 
her constitution and soured her temper. We shall not be 
surprised then to find her reign fruitful of those persecutions 
which have led Protestants to name it the reign of the Bloody 
Queen Maiy. The Roman Catholic religion was at once 
restored. All the property of religious houses which had 
been retained by the crown, was given back to the church 
by this bigoted but conscientious queen. She would fain 
have compelled her nobles to the same sacrifices, but was 
advised that it would be impossible. Parliament was opened 
by the celebration of high mass, one bishop alone (Taylor of 
Lincoln) refusing to kneel at the elevation of the host. The 
Book of Common Prayer was declared to be an abomination. 
The famous pulpit at Paul's Cross was filled by Romish 
preachers, whilst numbers of Protestant clergymen were sent 
to prison. 

Archbishop Cranmer, who had so greatly aided Henry in 
procuring the divorce from her mother, was one of Mary's 
first objects of displeasure. He was sent a prisoner to the 
Tower. In the year 1554, a marriage was arranged between 



QUEEN MARY. 203 

the queen and King Philip of Spain. This match was very- 
agreeable to Mary, from Philip's known devotion to the 
church of Rome. For that very reason, however, it was 
hateful to the English people. Sir Thomas Wyatt, a noble- 
man who had travelled in Spain, and knew the harsh bigotry 
of the Spanish king, headed a rebellion in Kent. Other 
parts of England rose in arms, and the friends of the poor 
captive in the Tower, Lady Jane Grey, took part in these 
disturbances. Mary was induced to believe that the life of 
Lady Jane was injurious to her own safety, and so this young, 
beautiful, and accomplished woman laid her head 
upon the block, an innocent victim to the crimes of 
others. Her husband was beheaded a few hours before her 
own death. Wyatt's rebellion was put down, himself with 
many others suffering on the scaffold. 

Philip came to England and married Mary. He remained 
in the country but a short time; his departure being regretted 
by his wife only, whose affection, however, he returned with 
coldness and dislike. Mary was extremely anxious that her 
kingdom should be restored to the communion of Rome. It 
was therefore with great joy that she received Cardinal Pole, 
the Pope's legate, who pronounced full absolution upon the 
parliament and realm of England, and received them again 
into the bosom of the Roman church. This restoration to 
the old religion was celebrated by the persecution of the 
Protestants. The first for whom the fires of Smithfield were 
lighted was John Rogers, one of the clergy of St. Paul's. 
Among the most prominent who suffered at this time were 
Hugh Latimer, bishop of Worcester, and Thomas Ridley, 
bishop of London. They were both burned on the same day, 
at Oxford, opposite Baliol College. Ridley reached the spot 
first. Latimer, being an old man, came more slowly. Ridley 
ran to meet him, and embracing him, said : " Be of good 
cheer, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the 
flame, or strengthen us to bear it." The noble old man 
returned these words of godly cheer, when, as they were 
chaining him to the stake, he exclaimed to his brother 



204 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

martyr, at whose feet the faggots were already kindled : " Be 
of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man j we shall 
this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I 
trust shall never be put out." Never were words more pro- 
phetic. Another Protestant martyr of these days was Dr. 
Rowland Taylor, the rector of Hadleigh in Sussex. He was 
the ancestor of the learned and pious author of " Holy Living 
and Dying." 

Archbishop Cranmer was left in prison a few months longer. 
His had ever been a timid character. During the reign 
of Henry VIII. the archbishop's lack of moral courage had 
manifested itself on several occasions, when he yielded both 
opinion and principle to the will of that monarch. But 
Henry's wrath, being equivalent to a death-warrant, might 
have intimidated a bolder spirit than Cranmer's. Now, aged 
and harassed, as he lay in his prison at Oxford, delusive 
hopes of life and pardon were held out to induce him to 
recant, and thus bring disgrace upon himself and the whole 
Protestant cause. For a time the natural timidity of Cran- 
mer's nature prevailed, and he signed a recantation. His 
enemies having now gained their point, as they fondly be- 
lieved, prepared for him the martyr's stake. Nobly amid the 
flames did Archbishop Cranmer redeem that last moment of 
weakness. Holding out the hand which had signed the 
paper: "This hand has offended," he exclaimed, and watched 
it as it slowly shrivelled in the consuming flames. His last 
words were, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." In Mary's 
reign, two hundred and eighty-eight persons suffered 

1556. 

at the stake. 
During all this time the Protestant Princess Elizabeth, by 
the utmost prudence, narrowly escaped the perils to which 
her position exposed her. At Queen Mary's coronation she 
bore the crown. Whispering to the Count de Noailles, the 
French ambassador, that it was heavy, he replied : "Be 
patient, it will seem lighter when it is on your own head." 
Once she had been led through the Traitor's Gate into the 
Tower, but she was again set free, and towards the close of 



QUEEN MARY. 205 

Mary's reign, she resided at the manor house of Hatfield, in 
comparative security, and in friendship with her Roman 
Catholic sister. To obtain this, however, she was obliged 
to have mass celebrated in her own house, to embroider 
garments for madonnas and saints, and when at court, to take 
part in the religious processions. 

In 1557, King Philip came over to England. His visit 
rejoiced his wife, but with very little reason, for his motive in 
coming was purely selfish. It was to persuade the English 
parliament to declare war against France. Both the parlia- 
ment and council were opposed to such a war. They would 
never have yielded to Philip, but that, fortunately for him, 

the king of France at this juncture aided some 

1557. ° 1 J , 

traitorous- attempts to overthrow the government of 

England. This fact enabled Mary to gratify her husband, by 
procuring the consent of parliament to the sending over of a 
body of horse and foot in aid of the Spanish king. The war 
proved sadly disastrous to England. One town alone re- 
mained to her of all the dear-bought conquests on the soil of 
France. It was Calais. Most jealously had this possession 
been watched until the reign of Mary. But now its defences 
were weakened, and there was no navy to protect it. The 
Duke of G-uise surprised the fortress in midwinter, 

1558. r ' 

and the last stronghold of English power on the 
continent fell into his hands. 

So greatly was this loss felt by the English queen, that 
shortly before her death, when two of her attendants asked if 
her great dejection arose from King Philip's leaving her, she 
replied : " Not that only, but when I am dead and opened, 
you shall find Calais lying in my heart." Queen Mary's 
death occurred a few months after the loss which she had so 
greatly deplored. She died in November, 1558. 

Questions. — Whose situation became perilous at the king's death? 

— How did they evade the danger of appearing at court? — What 

prevented the success of Northumberland's designs ?— Relate the 

conduct and fate of Lady Jane Grey. — How was Northumberland 

18 



208 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

punished ? — What was Mary's age at her accession ? — Mention the 
circumstances of her previous life and character. — What changes 
now took place in the religion of the realm ? — How did Cranmer 
suffer, and on what account ? 

Describe the effect of Mary's* marriage contract upon the nation. — 
In what way did Wyatt's rebellion bring about the death of Lady 
Jane Grey? — What was Mary's chief anxiety with regard to her 
kingdom? — Who was the Pope's legate, and how was he received? — 
Who was the first victim in the persecutions of the Protestants ? — 
Describe the martyrdom of Latimer and Ridley. — Describe the cha- 
racter and consequent conduct of Cranmer. — Relate the noble evi- 
dence of repentance given by him at the stake. — How many perished 
at the stake during this reign? 

Describe the situation of the Princess Elizabeth during Mary's 
reign. — Mention the object and result of Philip's visit to England in 
1557. — Describe the loss suffered by England in this war. — What 
anecdote is given to show how deeply Mary felt the loss of this 
town ? — When did Mary die ? 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



QUEEN ELIZABETH. — THE FIRST TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF 
HER REIGN. 

HER ACCESSION — POPULARITY — THE PROTESTANT RELIGION RESTORED — 
MARY OF SCOTLAND. 

It is said that when one warned Anna Boleyn of the danger 
she incurred in wedding Henry VIII., she replied : " I care 
not what becomes of me j my children shall be royal." Truly 
her words were prophetic, for never did a sovereign rule with 
a more royal sway than Elizabeth of England, the only child 
of the unhappy Anna Boleyn. 

When, on the 17th November, the accession of the 

155 8 

Princess Elizabeth was made known, not a single 
voice challenged her title, but both houses rang with shouts 
of " God save Queen Elizabeth, and long and happy may she 
reign. ;; On the 14th January, she was received in London 



QUEEN ELIZABETH. 207 

by the lord mayor and citizens with great magnificence. One 
of the pageants prepared for the occasion ; represented 
Time leading forth her daughter Truth, the latter 
presenting to the queen an English Bible. In another stood 
a ficnire representing Elizabeth, with these words written over 
her-head : " Deborah, the Judge and Restorer over the house 
of Israel.' ' These were probably the first pageants of a Pro- 
testant character displayed in England. 

Queen Elizabeth delighted the people by her gracious 
smiles and words, and by the kind reception of their offerings. 
The day after her coronation, a courtier presented a petition 
to her majesty for the release " now in this good time of four 
or five principal prisoners ; these were the four Evangelists 
and the Apostle St. Paul, who had been long shut up in an 
unknown tongue, as it were in prison, so as they could not 
converse with the common people." This petition, together 
with the pageants, prove that, notwithstanding the perse- 
cutions of the late reign, there was a strong feeling of Pro- 
testantism in England. Elizabeth proceeded very cautiously, 
and by degrees, to restore the Reformed religion. 

When the " Act of Supremacy and Uniformity" was passed, 
obliging all English subjects to acknowledge the queen as 
the supreme head of the church, and forbidding any mode 
of religious worship save that prescribed by the church of 
England, many Roman Catholics were subject to fines or im- 
prisonments. Large numbers became exiles in foreign coun- 
tries, where, in after years, they aided plots and conspiracies, 
to the no small peril of the English queen. 

Scarcely was Elizabeth seated on the throne, when Philip 
of Spain sent ambassadors to her with offers of marriage. 
The queen declined his suit, taking occasion, at the same 
time, to announce to parliament her intention to live and die 
a virgin-queen. Subsequently, the kings of Denmark and 
Sweden, the duke of Wirtemberg, the arch-duke of Austria, 
and other suitors, tried to shake her purpose and obtain her 
hand, but she remained firm to her determination. 

Elizabeth surrounded herself with wise counsellors. Her 



to 

15 8'?'. 



208 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

friend; Sir William Cecil, who had so ably advised and pro- 
tected her in the perilous times of Mary's reign, was made 
secretary of state. The government was firmly and wisely 
administered. By economy the large debts of the crown were 
paid off. Supplies of arms were purchased from abroad ; the 
art of making fire-arms in England was greatly improved ; 
and the navy was so much increased that Elizabeth won for 
herself the title of Queen of the Northern Seas. 
1559 The story of Mary Queen of Scots, whose misfor- 
tunes will ever tempt posterity to doubt or to forget 
the crimes which never have been proved against her, 
occupies a large portion of the reign of Elizabeth. 

Mary Stuart was the great-grandchild of Henry VII., her 
grandmother Margaret, the eldest daughter of that monarch, 
having married James IV., king of Scotland. By that por- 
tion of the English people who deemed Henry VIII.'s mar- 
riage with Anna Boleyn illegal, and by all the foreign Roman 
Catholics, as well as by many of that faith in England, Mary 
Stuart was considered the lawful heir to the English throne. 
Her mother, Mary of Guise, was a Frenchwoman, and Mary 
herself had been educated at the French court. She grew 
up beautiful and accomplished, but under influences that 
would not tend to make her pure or high-principled. 

Early taught her claims to the crown of England, she had, 
even when a child, quartered the English arms with her own. 
She married Francis the dauphin of France, and when, in 
1559, he became king, the youthful sovereigns styled them- 
selves king and queen of Scotland and England as well as 
France. This gave great provocation to Elizabeth, who, how- 
ever, before it occurred, had been secretly plotting with those 
in Scotland who opposed their young queen, for the kingdom 
was rent by two religious parties — the Roman Catholics, who 
were supported by France, and the Protestants, headed by 
several powerful nobles, but chiefly controlled by John Knox, 
the famous Scotch reformer. 

In the year 1560, Francis II. died, and Mary returned to 
her native kingdom. Surely never had an hereditary queen 



QUEEN ELIZABETH. 209 

departed from a foreign land to take possession of her native 
realm, with so heavy a heart as that with which the young 
and beautiful Mary Stuart parted from the shores of France. 
" Farewell, dear France — I shall never see thee more I" she 
sadly exclaimed, as with tearful eyes she gazed from 
her vessel upon the fast-receding shore. The nobles 
of Scotland had made but few preparations to do honor to 
their young queen j and when she saw the miserable ponies, 
with bare wooden saddles, and wretched trappings, which were 
to convey her and her court to the gloomy palace of Holy- 
rood, the young royal widow drew a painful contrast between 
her present position and her past magnificence at the gay and 
elegant court of France. One thing alone cheered her droop- 
ing spirits, — the enthusiasm with which the common people 
welcomed this beautiful descendant of their ancient kings. 
She showed her appreciation of their affection, by enduring 
a serenade from two or three hundred violinists, who played 
all night beneath her windows. 

Mary's religion was a subject of opposition from the first 
moment of her landing. The very pageants, meagre as they 
were, which were arranged professedly to do honor to the new 
queen, were such as insulted the faith in which she had been 
trained. The destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, 
who, as idolaters, were made to stand for the whole Romish 
priesthood, was one of these exhibitions. John Knox, the 
uncompromising reformer, who declared that " to import one 
mass into the kingdom of Scotland, would be more fatal than 
to bring over a foreign army of ten thousand men/' was par- 
ticularly harsh towards his young queen. 

His arguments against her religion, not one of which was 
she in the least prepared to understand, were urged in so stern 
a manner by this man " who never feared the face of clay," 
that they only disposed her to cling the more tenaciously to 
the faith in which she had been educated. 

The Scots were anxious for the marriage of their queen ; 
and as all the eligible matches with princes on the continent 
were objected to on account of their being Roman Catholics, 
18* 



210 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Mary consulted Elizabeth of England on the subject. The 
English queen proposed those whom she knew Mary would . 
not accept ; and then, when the queen of Scots, seeing 
that her sister of England was trifling with her, chose 
for herself, and married her cousin, Henry, Lord Darnley, 
Elizabeth affected the greatest displeasure. The Protestant 
party opposed to the Scottish queen were aided by the money 
and countenance of England. This party inspired the woak 
mind of Darnley with the desire of taking the government 
into his own hands, and made him jealous of his queen. 
Mary had among her servants an Italian musician named 
David Rizzio, whom she employed as her secretary. Against 
this man Darnley and his abettors conceived a violent hatred ; 
and, one evening, whilst Mary was supping at Holyrood 
Palace, in the presence of several members of her court, 
Darnley, Lord Ruthven, and others, entered and murdered 
the unhappy Pdzzio before her eyes. 

On the 19th June, 1566, was born Mary's first and only 
child, a son named James, afterwards James I. of England. 

On the night preceding the 10th of February of the follow- 
ing year, Darnley, who was recovering from an attack of small- 
pox, was lodging at a house in the suburbs of Edinburgh, 
called the Kirk-a-Field. It was selected by the queen's phy- 
sician, who deemed it dangerous to have his patient quartered 
within the crowded precincts of the palace. The queen, ac- 
companied by a party of her nobles, passed the evening at 
her husband's loggings. A few hours after their de- 
parture, the town was shaken by a violent explosion 
of gunpowder. The Kirk-a-Field had been blown up, and 
in the garden was found the body of Darnley, lifeless, but 
with no marks of violence upon it. The Earl of Bothwell, an 
-enemy of Darnley, and one who had gained the favor of the 
queen, was at once accused of the murder j nor was it long 
before Mary herself was implicated in this charge of guilt. 

Two months after this event, as Queen Mary was returning 
from Stirling Castle, she was waylaid by the Earl of Both- 
well, with a thousand armed retainers, and carried a prisoner 



QUEEN ELIZABETH. 211 

to the Castle of Dunbar. For five days she remained a cap- 
tire, during which time the Earl Bothwell persuaded her to 
promise to marry him. This marriage was celebrated a month 
later, with little or no opposition on the part of the nobles. 
The queen afterwards justly complained that, when a captive 
in Dunbar Castle, "not a sword was drawn for her relief; but 
after their marriage, a thousand swords flew from their scab- 
bards to drive Bothwell from the country and herself from 
the throne." These words contain, indeed, the history of 
subsequent events. Bothwell fled to Norway, and, after eight 
years' captivity, died a maniac in the Danish castle of Malmoe. 
The queen, after a vain attempt to oppose her enemies, fell 
into their hands. 

On an islet in Loch-Leven, at the base of the Lomond 
Hills, stands the ruins of a castle. In the sixteenth century 
it was strong and well fortified, and within its high and 
gloomy walls the queen of Scots entered upon those long 
years of weary captivity which made life bitter to her. Whilst 
a prisoner, Mary was forced to sign a paper, resigning her 
claim to the throne in favor of her infant son, James, and 
yielding the government of her kingdom into the hands of 
the Earl Murray, as regent. Beyond the confines of her 
wave-guarded prison, Mary had a few warm and bold friends, 
and she resolved to escape. Changing garments with her 
laundress, with a bundle of clothes in her arms, she passed 
the gates of the castle and stepped into a boat. As they 
were crossing the lake, one of the rowers insisted upon seeing 
her face, which was concealed by a hood. In raising 
her hands to prevent this, their delicacy betrayed 
that she was no laundress. Despite her entreaties she was 
rowed back to the castle ; all that she could obtain being a 
promise from the watermen that they would not betray to 
the governor her attempt to escape. This first ill success did 
not dishearten Mary. 

She had a friend in the " Little Douglas," a relative of Sir 
William Douglas, the lord of Loch-Leven. The boy stole 
the keys of the castle, opened the gates, and, when the queen 



212 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

had passed out, threw the keys into the deep waters of the 
loch. Then, placing the queen in a skiff, he rowed her to 
the shore, where, mounted on a fleet horse, provided by a 
party of friends, she escaped to Hamilton. In the course of 
a few days she had collected an army of four or five thousand 
men, with wdiich she encountered her enemies at Langsicle. 
In the battle which followed she was entirely defeated, and 
fled from the disastrous field, scarcely stopping until she had 
reached Dundrennan Abbey, nearly sixty miles from the fatal 
spot. The next step was the most unfortunate one which she 
could have taken — to enter England and throw herself upon 
the protection of Queen Elizabeth. 

Mary begged for an interview w T ith her sister-queen. This 
was denied until her character should be cleared of the charges 
brought against her. Meanwhile the royal captive was trans- 
ferred from Carlisle Castle to Bolton Hall, a more secure and 
gloomy prison in Yorkshire. A commission appointed by 
Elizabeth and the Regent Murray, proceeded to examine the 
charges brought against the Queen of Scots. Nothing crimi- 
nal was proved, but Elizabeth feared too much Mary's title to 
the English throne, to be willing to release her. Whilst 
keeping the queen of Scotland a prisoner, and accusing her 
of designs upon the English crown, Elizabeth herself openly 
befriended the Regent Murray and Mary's enemies. The 
friends of the latter in France, and King Philip of Spain, as 
well as some parties in England, concerted plots for her resto- 
1568 ra ti° n to the throne of Scotland. In every conspiracy 
to Mary was accused of joining. Removed from prison- 
house to prison-house, her twenty years of captive life 
were truly sorrowful and hopeless. At length, in the year 
1586, a formidable plot was discovered, to murder Elizabeth, 
and deliver the Queen of Scots. 

This sealed the fate of Mary. Accused of being a party to 
these designs, and of encouraging an invasion of 'England by 
the king of Spain, she was tried at Fotheringay Castle, her 
last prison-house, by a commission no more impartial than the 
former one had been. She was condemned to die. After 



QUEEN ELIZABETH. 213 

great hesitation, Elizabeth signed the death-warrant. Mary 
received the news with a serenity almost amounting to cheer- 
fulness. She passed the night previous to her execution in 
reading, writing, consoling her women, and in prayer. At 
eight o'clock on the morning of the 8th February, 1587, she 
passed from her oratory to the scaffold. She was attired in a 
dress of black satin. A lawn veil reached from her head- 
dress to her feet. In her hand she bore an ivory crucifix. 

Years of captivity and sorrow had destroyed the beauty of 
Mary Stuart, but her air of grace and majesty were still left, 
and moved the hearts of those who saw her pass to the place 
of execution. Her old and tried servant, Sir Robert Melville, 
fell at her feet in an agony of tears. She said to him: "Good 
Melville, cease to lament, but rather rejoice, for thou shalt 
now see a final period to Mary Stuart's troubles. The world, 
my servant, is all but vanity, and subject to more sorrow than 
an ocean of tears can wash away." When upon the scaffold, 
she prayed for the church, her son, and the English queen : 
then kissing the crucifix which she held in her hand, she 
cried: "As thy arms, Jesu, were stretched upon the cross, 
so receive me, Grod, into the arms of mercy/' The Earl 
of Kent, shocked by her embracing the crucifix, said to her : 
" Madam, you had better put such Popish trumpery out of 
your hand, and carry Christ in your heart." Mary meekly 
replied : " I can hardly bear this emblem in my hand, without, 
at the same time, bearing him in my heart." Calmly she 
laid her head upon the block, and uttering the words "Into 
thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit," she yielded her 
life. 

Questions.— Of which of the wives of Henry VIII. was Elizabeth 
the daughter? — What did the mother say when warned against 
marrying Henry VIII. ?— How was the announcement of Elizabeth's 
accession received? — What curious petition was presented to the 
queen the day following her coronation? — What was required of 
English subjects by the act of supremacy ?— What was the effect of 
this act upon Roman Catholics ? — By whom was the queen sought in 
marriage ? — What announcement did she make on this occasion ?— 



214 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Who was her secretary of state? — Mention the instances of good 
government afforded in this reign. 

State Mary Stuart's claim to the English throne. — By whom was 
she regarded as the only lawful sovereign of the realm? — Where 
had Mary been educated ?— Whom did she marry ? — What awakened 
Elizabeth's hostility towards Mary ?— Describe the religious parties 
which at this time divided Scotland.— Give some account of Mary 
Stuart's reception in Scotland.— How did the reformer Knox treat 
Mary ?— What difficulties existed with regard to Mary's forming a 
matrimonial alliance ?— Whom did she marry ?— Relate the story of 
Rizzio. — Describe the death of Darnley.— What was the conduct of 
Bothwell towards the queen? — Describe the effect of the queen's 
marriage with Bothwell. — Describe her prison-house. 

What claim was Mary compelled to resign ? — In whose hands was 
the government placed ? — Relate Mary's first attempt at escape, 
with the result. — Describe the second adventure, and its issue. — 
What was the result of her encounter with her enemies ? — What fatal 
step did Mary now take ? — Relate the conduct of the English queen 
towards her unhappy rival. — Who plotted for Mary's restoration? — 
What was her history during the next twenty years ? — What accusa- 
tions were brought against the Queen of Scots? — What was the result 
of her trial? — Describe the last scenes of Mary's life. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

QUEEN ELIZABETH — THE LAST SIXTEEN YEARS OP HER 
REIGN. 

THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA — LEICESTER — ESSEX AND HIS ENEMIES. 

Mary's son, James, was king in Scotland when his mother 
was put to death. He pretended great sorrow and 
indignation on receiving the news, but Elizabeth 
found means to pacify him. The fear of losing the succession 
to the English crown, of which he was now the direct heir, 
kept him quiet. Not thus was conciliated another monarch, 
Philip of Spain, who had less personal grounds than James 
for revenging the death of Queen Mary. He had, however, 



QUEEN ELIZABETH. 215 

his own reasons for enmity to the English queen. Elizabeth 
had aided, at first, secretly, but afterward! openly, Philip's 
Protestant subjects in the Netherlands, who had revolted 
from him. 

Nearly two years before the execution of Mary, Elizabeth 
had sent her court favorite, the Earl of Leicester, into Hol- 
land. Leicester was not capable of doing much for the cause 
which he had undertaken, and his expedition is only memo- 
rable for the death of the accomplished Sir Philip Sidney, 
one of the brightest ornaments of the court of the English 
queen. He perished in an attack on the town of Zutphen. 
Whilst lying wounded upon the field of battle, a soldier 
brought to him some water in a helmet. As the dying 
nobleman put the cooling draught to his lips to quench his 
intolerable thirst, his eye caught the longing look of a 
wounded soldier who lay near him. " Friend, thy necessity 
is greater than mine V exclaimed the noble Sidney, and 
passed the cooling beverage to his dying comrade's lips ! At 
the siege of Zutphen, another young and gallant favorite of 
the queen distinguished himself This was Robert Devereux, 
Earl of Essex, then a youth of nineteen, full of military 
ardor, frank and accomplished. 

Philip, provoked by the part which Elizabeth had taken in 
the affairs of the Netherlands, retr liated by engaging in many 
of the plots made to release Mary of Scotland and overturn 
the throne of the English queen. On the death of Mary, he 
threw off all disguise, openly declared war against Elizabeth} 
■ and made formidable preparations for the invasion of England. 
Besides a large army, he equipped a fleet of one hundred 
and thirty vessels, proudly styled the "Invincible Armada." 
. The death of the admiral, and storms, detained the vessels in 
the Tagus, and it was not until nearly a year after war had 
been proclaimed, that the mighty armament left the shores 
of Spain. 

Meanwhile Elizabeth bad not been idle. Her kingdom 
resounded with preparations to repel the formidable invasion. 
The English queen, who certainly had " the genius to be 



216 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

loved," as well as feared, by her subjects, never awakened 
greater enthusiasm among them than on this occasion. She 
15 88 a PP earec * before her troops on horseback in the camp 
at Tilbury, and with cheerful voice and animated 
countenance, told them that, if need were, she herself would 
lead them against their enemies. " I know," she added, " I 
have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have 
the heart of a king, and of a king of England too; and think 
foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, or any prince in Europe, 
should dare to invade the borders of my realm." The royal 
navy at this critical time was increased by the voluntary con- 
tributions of nobles and people, who at their own cost fitted 
and manned merchant vessels, which were commanded by the 
most noted and skilful seamen of the age — such famous navi- 
gators as Howard of Effingham, Sir Francis Drake, Hawkins, 
and Frobisher. 

On the 20th July, 1588, the " Invincible Armada," in the 
form of a crescent, stretching seven miles from horn to horn, 
bore proudly up the Channel. The lighter English ships 
poured in their fire, and escaped from the heavy Spanish 
vessels before the latter could return it. The English avoided 
coining too near the enemy's ships, and their skilful tacking 
and playing amid the Spanish fleet, sailing away before their 
fire could be returned, resembled, says one who saw it, " a 
morris-dance upon the waters." Many ships were taken, 
many others sunk, but the Armada still remained formidable 
until the night of the 27th July, when fire-ships were floated 
into its midst by the English. These caused great destruc- 
tion, and, in a few days, the Spanish fleet became so disabled, 
that the commanders were obliged to abandon the enterprise. 
Many of the vessels, in trying to pass round the coast of Scot- 
land, perished in a dreadful storm off the Orkney Islands. 
When at last sixty shattered vessels, the sole remnant of the 
" Invincible Armada," returned to Spain, the mariners told 
fearful tales of the valor of English seamen and the terrors 
of English seas. 

In the year 1580, the Duke of Anjou. brother to the king 



QTJEEN ELIZABETH. 217 

of France, suddenly appeared in England, hoping to obtain 
the hand of Elizabeth. For a time it was supposed that 
the English queen would yield to his suit. But, after some 
wavering, the young and agreeable French duke was dis- 
missed, and the queen again declared to her parliament her 
intention to live unmarried. At a much earlier period in 
her reio-n, so great was the favor shown by Elizabeth towards 
the Earl of Leicester, that fears were awakened that she 
would condescend to bestow her hand upon the haughty 
favorite. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was son of the 
Earl of Northumberland, whose wicked and ambitious machi- 
nations had brought Lady Jane Grey to the block. His 
grandfather was the unscrupulous lawyer who, together with 
Empson, had committed such wrongs and robberies in Henry 
VII.'s reign. 

The Earl of Leicester, though young, handsome, and agree- 
able, showed a want of principle worthy of such ancestry. 
In the year 1560 he entertained Elizabeth at his castle of 
Kenilworth, with great magnificence, and when her evident 
partiality had inspired him with the hope that he might one 
day share the crown, he is said to have caused the death of 
his lovely and attached wife, Amy Robsart, that there might 
be no impediment to the royal marriage. But whatever may 
have been Elizabeth's personal feelings towards Leicester, she 
was too politic a sovereign to contract a marriage so distasteful 
to her people. After a time Leicester's popularity declined, 
and he was succeeded in the queen's favor by a very different . 
man — the frank and impetuous Earl of Essex. 

In the early part of this reign, when a mere youth, Essex 
had distinguished himself, both by sea and land, in the wars 
with Spain, and the queen had delighted in the high spirit 
and noble bearing of the young earl. But he was too open- 
tempered to be a courtier, and, as years wore on, he declined 
in favor, and made himself powerful enemies at court. The 
chief of these were Lord Burleigh and Sir Walter Raleigh. 
In the year 1598, an insurrection having broken out in Ire- 
land, the queen sent Essex thither to put it down. 
19 



218 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

The miseries of this unhappy country had been greatly 
increased since the Reformation, by the differences in religion 
between the two nations. Whilst the English embraced Pro- 
testantism, the Irish, who in the first instance had with so 
much difficulty been brought to acknowledge the papal su- 
premacy, now adhered to the Romish faith. When Henry 
VIII. sent his agents into Ireland to suppress the monasteries 
and religious houses, and to seize for the crown the property 
of the Irish church, the descendants of the ancient royal 
families, the O'Connors and O'Neils, rose in rebellion. Hor- 
rible atrocities, by no means confined to the wild Irishry, as 
the English termed them, were perpetrated, and bitter enmi- 
ties implanted, which centuries have not availed entirely to 
eradicate. 

The leadeiv of the present rebellion was a native 
chief, whom Elizabeth had created Earl of Tyrone. 
He was brave and active, and under him the Irish achieved 
greater successes than they had ever done before. Their 
wild method of warfare amid marshes and woods harassed the 
English troops. One commander is said to have died of sheer 
grief and vexation. Another was defeated in a pitched battle, 
losing his own life as well as the lives of fifteen hundred of his 
soldiers, with all his artillery and ammunition. 

The sending of Essex to quell such a formidable outbreak 
was a scheme contrived by his enemies to effect his ruin. 
The imprudent earl, failing where abler governors had been 
unable to succeed, drew upon himself the displeasure of 
Elizabeth, which was further argmented by the misrepresent- 
ations of his enemies. 

She sent a sharp letter of reproof to the hard-tried Essex, 
who, irritated and distressed, without waiting the permission 
of his royal mistress, suddenly left Ireland. Hastening to 
the English court, he rushed into the queen's presence, one 
morning before she had left her dressing-room, and, falling 
at her feet, craved her pardon. Elizabeth received him 
graciously, but after his departure, she was induced to view 



QUEEN ELIZABETH. 219 

his conduct with displeasure, and ordered him to remain a 
prisoner at Essex Place. The Earl of Mountjoy was sent to 
Ireland, and by his ability and prudence was enabled in some 
measure to quiet the disturbances there. 

About a year after the return of Essex from Ireland, he, 
beino- released from custody, but not permitted to appear at 
court, applied to the queen for a renewal of a patent which he 
had held for some years, but which had now expired. Eliza- 
beth refused, with expressions extremely irritating to the earl. 
Believing that he had for ever lost the favor of the queen, and 
that she was surrounded by his enemies, and trusting to his 
great popularity, this infatuated nobleman entertained the 
wild scheme of overthrowing the government of Elizabeth. 
He rushed into the streets of London with about 
three hundred followers, hoping that the populace 
would join him. But the throne of the queen was based on 
the esteem and affections of her people, and no rebellion 
ensued. 

Essex was seized and thrown into the Tower. At the end 
of a few days he was arraigned for high treason before a 
court, many of the members of which were his personal ene- 
mies. Pronounced guilty, this brave and accomplished noble- 
man, at the early age of thirty-three, died upon the scaffold. 

Elizabeth did not long survive the execution of her favorite, 
and many thought that his death hastened her own. Whether 
caused by sorrow for the death of Essex or not, the last year 
of Elizabeth's life was a melancholy one. For ten days pre- 
vious to her death she lay upon the floor, supported 
by cushions, and gave way to her feelings of distress 
by sighs and groans. She would take neither food nor medi- 
cine. Her ministers asked whom she would have to succeed 
her. She replied : " I tell you my seat has been the seat of 
kings 5 ... I will have a king to succeed me, and who should 
that be but my cousin of Scotland?" When too much ex- 
hausted to resist, she was laid upon a bed. She listened 
attentively and with interest to the prayers and sermons of the 



220 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

divines who attended her, almost to the hour of her death, 
which occurred on the 24th March, 1603. 

Questions. — Describe the conduct of the king of Scotland on the 
occasion of his mother's death. — What monarch did resent Mary's 
death? — How had Elizabeth roused the enmity of the King of Spain? 
— Whom had Elizabeth sent to aid the Dutch Protestants? — For what 
is this expedition memorable ? — Describe the death of Sir Philip 
Sidney. — Describe Philip's preparations for the invasion of England. 
— Give the account of Elizabeth's conduct and preparations on this 
occasion. — By what means was the English navy increased ? — Name 
some of the commanders. — Describe the approach of the Spanish 
Armada. — Give an account of the naval battle which ensued. — State 
the result of this engagement.— How was the Armada destroyed?— 
How many vessels returned to Spain? 

What suitor appeared at the English court in 1580 ?— What was 
the result of his suit ?— How did Elizabeth regard the Earl of Lei- 
cester ? — What is said of Leicester's entertainments to the queen ? — 
Did he remain a favorite? — By whom was he succeeded in the 
queen's regard ? 

Describe the character of Essex.— For what purpose was Essex 
sent to Ireland ?— What was his conduct there ?— In what way did 
the queen evince her displeasure at his course ?— Describe the con- 
duct of Essex on this occasion.— How did Elizabeth receive him ?— 
Kelate her subsequent treatment of the favorite. 

What effect is Essex's death supposed to have produced upon Eliza- 
beth?— Describe her condition during the last days of life.— Who did 
she name as her successor to the throne ?— When did Elizabeth die? 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

THE REFORMATION — ESTABLISHMENT OP THE ENGLISH CHURCH — DIS- 
SENTERS. 

At the opening of this century England was a Roman 
Catholic country, and the power of the Pope and the clergy 
were yet in the ascendant. Even during tfce first nineteen 



ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 221 

years of Henry VIII.'s reign, he was a devoted servant of the 
papal church. At his accession the Pope sent him a conse- 
crated golden rose, dipped in holy oil, perfumed with musk, 
and accompanied by the apostolic benediction. When Luther 
commenced the Reformation, Henry wrote a book against it. 
A copy of this work, splendidly bound, was presented to the 
Pope, who received it most graciously, saying, "it was sprin- 
kled with the dew of divine grace," and bestowing on the 
royal author the honorable title of " Defender of the Faith." 
Little did the Pope imagine that from this highly-favored son 
of holy church, would come that death-blow to papal power 
in England, which was given in the year 1534, when Henry 
VIII. declared himself the " Head of the Church" in his domi- 
nions. This act was followed by causing first the lesser, and 
then the richer religious houses to be abolished, and their 
wealth confiscated to the crown. Some of these beautiful 
buildings were turned into schools or colleges, and a portion 
of their property was devoted to the founding of new dioceses, 
and for purposes of instruction and improvement. The 
greater part, however, was bestowed by the king on unworthy 
favorites, or in support of his own magnificence. 

Although Henry VIII. had thrown _off the supremacy of 
the Pope, he still retained many of the doctrines and cere- 
monies, as well as the persecuting spirit of the papal church. 
As in former reigns, those who denied the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation, the worship of images, or the celibacy of 
the clergy, were burned at the stake. From his marriage 
with Anna Boleyn to the death of Jane Seymour, Henry was 
more inclined to support the Reformation than in the later 
years of his life. Archbishop Cranmer took advantage of 
this favorable disposition to urge an English translation of 
the Bible for the people. The entire Bible had been trans- 
lated and printed in English by one Miles Coverdale ; and 
as soon as Cranmer had received the king's permission, he 
ordered a copy of this Bible to be placed in every parish 
church. 

Cranmer then employed the most learned scholars he could 
19* 



222 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

find, to make a new translation of the Word of God. This 
was finished in April of the year 1539. It was printed partly 
at Paris and partly in London. The new Bible was a large 
folio, adorned with a wood-cut, the design of the celebrated 
painter, Hans Holbein. The engraving represents the dis- 
tributing of the Scriptures to the people, and is beautifully 
executed. When Cranmer received the first copies of the 
holy book, he declared they gave him more joy than if he 
had received ten thousand pounds. " Cranmer's," or " The 
Great Bible/' is the name usually given to this translation. 

Copies of this first authorized English Bible were chained 
either to a desk at the church-porch, or in the choir of the 
churches, that the poor, who could not obtain them in private 
might go there and read them. Six were chained to pillars, 
in various parts of St. Paul's Cathedral. So great was the 
enthusiasm when they were' first introduced, that crowds 
flocked to the churches. Any one who had a loud clear 
voice would gather a group around him, listening with eager 
interest to the Word of God, whilst the priest at the altar 
could get few to attend to the sacrifice of the mass, or other 
parts of the Romish ritual. This state of things aroused the 
opposition of the clergy, and when Henry was less favorable 
to the Reformation, the people were forbidden to read the 
Bible. The prohibition, however, had but little effect on any 
who could get possession of the Word of God. 

The services of the church were altogether in Latin, until 
the year 1544, when, as the king was about to undertake wars 
in France, and prayers were to be offered up in the churches 
for his safety, Cranmer urged that the people would pray with 
more fervor, if the prayers were said in a language which they 
understood. The king then ordered that they should be in 
English, which gave great joy to the Reformers. 

Church-going, in those days, was far from being " the 
assembling of themselves together" for the- reverent Avorship 
of Almighty God. Sunday was the day for revelry of all 
kinds. The service was hurried over, that more time might 
be had for the games and plays which were to follow. It is 



ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 223 

almost impossible to credit the follies which were enacted 
during the most sacred of the church festivals. An old writer 
relates that at Christmas the Lord of Misrule would gather 
nearly a hundred companions as riotous as himself. They 
would dress in the gayest garments, " and, as though they 
were not gaudy enough, bedeck themselves with scarfs, rib- 
bons, and laces, hanged all over with gold rings, precious 
stones, and other jewels; this done, they tie about either leg 
twenty or forty bells, with rich handkerchiefs in their hands, 
and sometimes laid across over their shoulders and necks." . . . 
Then, accompanied by hobby-horses, pipers, and drummers, 
this ungodly crew would enter the church, in the midst of 
divine service, with jingling of bells, beating of drums, and 
shouting like very madmen. 

In the reign of Edward VI. the Reformation made more 
substantial progress, and the foundation of a Protestant church 
was completed. The Latin Mass-Book gave place to the Eng- 
lish Book of Common Prayer. The communion was adminis- 
tered in both kinds to the laity; the worship of images 
and pilgrimages to" shrines was forbidden or discouraged; 
and finally, in 1552, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (at 
first forty-two) were established. On All Saints' Day of that 
same year, the Book of Common Prayer was first used at St. 
Paul's and throughout the churches of London. Ridley, the 
bishop of London, performed the service in the morning at 
the cathedral, and in the afternoon preached at Paul's Cross, 
explaining the new service book, in the presence of a large 
congregation, including the lord mayor and aldermen. The 
bishop's sermon was continued until torch-light. 

When Mary succeeded her brother, the end and aim of her 
government, almost of her existence, was to restore Romanism. 
The result, however, of this cruel and persecuting reign was 
to render England more decidedly Protestant than it had ever 
been before. 

When Elizabeth came to the throne, the great mass of the 
people had abandoned the old religion. This queen, herself, 
held many of the views belonging to the church of Rome. She 



224 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

had a great aversion to married priests, and to the day of her 
death she kept a crucifix in her chamber. She was not a reli- 
gious persecutor, but she checked the spirit of Protestant reform, 
and maintained the church as Cranmer had left it. A large 
class of English subjects, during the persecutions of Queen 
Mary's reign, had fled to the continent. There they adopted 
the opinions of Calvin and Zwingle, who carried the Protestant 
Reformation to a far greater length than the English reformers 
had done. When these exiles returned to their native land, 
on the accession of Elizabeth, they objected to the conservative 
policy of the established church, and refused to observe many 
of the forms of worship retained in its ritual. In 1559 a law, 
called " The Act of Uniformity/' was passed, obliging all 
English subjects to celebrate divine worship according to the 
forms prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. The Puri- 
tans (as they were named in derision) refused to obey this 
law, and in the year 1566 separated from the established 
church. They were called non-conformists and dissenters, 
and, as we shall see, the acts against them, and the persecu- 
tions they endured, increased in severity for the next hundred 
years. 

Questions. — What was the condition of England as regards reli- 
gion, at the opening of the sixteenth century ? — Describe the favor 
with which Henry was regarded by the Pope during the first years 
of his reign. — When and by what act was the papacy overthrown in 
England. — By what was this act followed ? — What did some of the 
religious houses become ? — Describe the appropriation of their reve- 
nues. — Describe Henry's conduct with regard to religion. — During 
what period of his reign did the Reformation make the most decided 
progress ? 

How did Cranmer improve this time ? — Describe Cranmer's Bible. 
— When was it published ? — What was done with these new Bibles ? 
— Describe the scene witnessed in the churches where the Bibles 
were to be read. — .To what prohibition did this give rise? — Relate 
the incident which led to the translation of the church-service. — 
How did church-going in those days differ from that of the present 
time? — Describe the profanation of the Lord's day. — What folly was 



ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 225 

enacted at Christmas time? — Repeat the description given of this 
revel. 

Describe the progress of the Reformation during the reign of Ed- 
ward VI. — When was the Book of Common Prayer first introduced ? 
— Relate the circumstances. — What was the effect of Mary's acces- 
sion ? — What was the condition of the nation at Elizabeth's acces- 
sion ? — What doctrine and practice of Romanists did she observe ?— 
What spirit did she check ? — How was this policy regarded by some 
of her subjects ? — Who were- these ? — What law was passed in 1559 ? 
— To what did it compel English subjects? — What was the final effect 
of the Act of Conformity upon the Puritans ? — What were they then 
called ? — How were they treated ? 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

LEARNING — PAINTING — ARCHITECTURE — COMMERCE — MANUFACTURES. 

Many distinguished scholars flourished in England during 
the sixteenth century. The great Cardinal Wolsey was a 
liberal patron of learning and the fine arts. He commenced 
at Oxford a college which, in beauty of architecture and rich- 
ness of endowment, would have surpassed any other institution 
then existing. It was to have been named Cardinal College. 
Immense sums were expended upon the buildings, libraries, 
pictures, statues, furniture, &c. He had formed, too, the 
design of procuring copies of all the manuscripts of the library 
of the Vatican, wherewith to enrich his noble foundation. 
But, before his plans were completed, the great cardinal 
was disgraced, and all his wealth was forfeited to the king. 
Christ Church College, Oxford, is all that remains of Wolsey's 
magnificent design. He had founded a school at Ipswich, 
and seven lectures at Oxford, to be read by the most learned 
men who could be procured. 

Of the twenty colleges now existing at Oxford, six were 
P 



226 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

founded during this period; and of the seventeen at Cam- 
bridge, no less than eight owe their origin to the pie,ty or 
liberal patronage of learning which prevailed at this time. 
Later in the century, Trinity College, Dublin, was founded 
by Queen Elizabeth. Christ Church, Westminster, and the 
Merchant Tailors' Schools, were also established. The first 
was founded in 1553, by King Edward VI.; the second by 
Queen Elizabeth, in 1560; and the last by the Merchant 
Tailors' Company, in 1568. 

At St. Paul's School, which was founded in London during 
the first year of Henry VIII. 's reign, the famous grammarian, 
William Lilly, taught Greek publicly. There had been great 
jealousy of "the new learning," as the ignorant churchmen 
of that day called the study of this ancient language. When 
Erasmus published his Greek Testament, the clergy declared 
that it was a book of his own invention, and accused him of 
intending to set up a new religion. Lilly published a gram- 
mar, which was soon in use in all the schools in England. 
It contained a preface written by Cardinal Wolsey. 

The upright chancellor, Sir Thomas More, wrote a very 
famous book, called "Utopia." He was. a great promoter of 
learning, and inspired his children with his own love of 
knowledge. His daughters, especially the eldest, the amiable 
and affectionate Margaret Roper, were among the most accom- 
plished women of the age; — an age, too, which was fruitful in 
learned women. Queens Mary and Elizabeth were not only 
fine Latin scholars, but the latter, we have the testimony of 
her schoolmaster, Roger Ascham, was a proficient in Greek, 
and both sisters were conversant with French, Spanish, and 
Italian. The Latin epistle which the Lady Jane Grey wrote 
her sister, the night before her execution, is celebrated for 
the beauty of its style. 

The three daughters of Sir Anthojiy Cooke vied with the 
household of Sir Thomas More in their varied learning. The 
eldest of these ladies married Elizabeth's famous statesman, 
Lord Burleigh ; the second became the wife of Sir Nicholas 
Bacon, and was the mother of the very celebrated philosopher 



ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 227 

of that name ; and the third, who became Lady Killigrew, 
surpassed her sisters by adding Hebrew to her knowledge 
of Greek and Latin. These learned ladies are spoken of not 
only as proficients in music, but also as well skilled in needle- 
work, and "none of them/' says an old writer, "but when 
they be at home, can help to supply the ordinary want of the 
kitchen with a number of delicate dishes of their own de- 
vising." 

Although we have these illustrious instances of learning, 
we must not be deceived thereby into believing that the 
whole nation was proportionably well educated. The schools 
for the lower orders had been kept in the convents and 
religious houses. When these were broken up, the mass of 
the people were left without instruction. By the dissolution 
of the monasteries, complains the speaker of the House of 
Commons to Elizabeth, more than one hundred flourishing- 
schools have been destroyed. This loss was partially provided 
for by the establishment of grammar schools, but they only 
supplied the* wants of the larger towns. In many country 
places, the ignorance of the population was lamentable. The 
father of the immortal Shakspeare, although alderman in the 
little town of Stratford-on-Avon, is supposed not to have 
known how to write his own name; and where one man could 
pretend to such an accomplishment, there were ten or twelve 
who could only " make their mark." 

The fine arte received great patronage during this century. 
The celebrated Dutch painter, Holbein, came into England in 
the year 1526, bringing letters of introduction from Erasmus 
to Sir Thomas More, and was introduced by the latter to his 
royal master. Henry VIII. assigned the Dutch painter a 
studio at Whitehall, and paid him liberally for his_ pictures. 
Even after he had deceived the king by a flattering likeness 
of Anne of Cleves, Holbein was fortunate enough to retain 
the favor of the monarch. On 'one occasion this painter 
behaved with great rudeness towards a courtier of high rank. 
When the nobleman complained to the royal ear, Henry took 
the part of the painter, and forbade his courtier to seek 



228 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

revenge, saying : " Remember, that of seven peasants I can 
make as many lords, but I cannot make one Holbein." 

The architecture of palaces and dwelling-houses, generally 
known as the Tudor style, was far more elegant and commo- 
dious than anything which had preceded it. King Henry 
VII.'s palace at Sheen, which he named Richmond; Wolsey's 
palace at Hampton Court ; and a beautiful royal retreat called 
" Nonsuch," in Surrey, were fine specimens of this style of 
architecture. As the Italian fashion of having the principal 
apartments on the upper floor was adopted during this century, 
great attention was now paid to the halls and to the stair-cases, 
which latter were made of oak, broad, and ornamented with 
carvings. Chimneys were sparingly introduced. The chim- 
ney-pieces occupied the whole height of the room, and upon 
them was often represented, in curious and rich carving, an 
entire story or history. 

Many of the manor houses which were built in the time of 
Queen Elizabeth, are supposed from their style, having two 
projecting wings, and a porch in the middle, to have been 
thus built to represent the letter E, out of compliment to the 
queen . 

Commerce flourished in this century. It was the age of 
nautical adventure. Bartholomew Columbus presented him- 
self at the court of Henry VII., to plead for the discovery of 
a New World. His brother, the illustrious Christopher 
Columbus, was invited to England : but his long suit at the 
Spanish court at last ended in success, and before Bartholo- 
mew returned with the invitation, Columbus had discovered 
America for the king of Spain. Thus, by Divine Providence, 
were the English preserved " from losing their industry and 
commercial spirit in the mines of Mexico and Peru." 

Frequent voyages were made to the coasts of Brazil and 
Guinea, and a great desire was manifested to discover a 
passage through the northern seas to China. One expedition 
for this purpose was sent out under Sir Hugh Willoughby, 
but he and his crew were frozen to death in a harbor in 
Lapland. One of the ships made her way to Archangel, 



ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 229 

whence the captain, Richard Chancellor, travelled on sledges 
to Moscow, had an interview with the Czar, and laid the 
foundation of a profitable trade with Russia. Cod-fishing on 
the banks of Newfoundland began in the year 1536. Later 
in the century, English ships frequented the northern seas in 
search of whales. 

The reign of Queen Elizabeth was a glorious period for the 
commerce and maritime prosperity of England. Sir Francis 
Drake sailed round the world. He was gone nearly three 
years. On his return, the queen visited him on board his 
vessel, and conferred on the fortunate commander the honor 
of knighthood. The ship in which he made his famous 
voyage was preserved at Deptford for many years, and, when 
destroyed, a chair was constructed of one of the planks, and 
presented to the University of Oxford. Frobisher's and 
Davis's Straits are witnesses to the present day of the disco- 
veries of England's bold seamen. The naval and commercial 
fame of Sir John Hawkins is stained by his engaging in the 
African slave trade. In the year 1562, he sailed to the coast 
of Guinea, filled his ships with negroes, and carried them to 
the Spanish colony of Hispaniola, where they were sold into 
slavery. He returned to England with a fine cargo of 
"hides, sugar, ginger, and many pearls/' 

As early as the year 1556, steps had been taken to trade 
with India by land. English ships visited the islands of 
Ceylon and Sumatra in 1591, but it was not until the last day 
of the last year of the century, that the East India Company 
was founded. On that day a little party of London merchants 
met at the house of one Groddard, a worthy citizen and 
alderman, and subscribed a capital of thirty thousand pounds 
for a ship to trade to the " Far Indies." Little dreamed they 
that then and there was laid the foundation of the mighty 
empire of British India, with its annual revenue of twenty-six 
millions of pounds, and its population of one hundred and 
twenty millions of souls. 

The discoveries in America were not undervalued by the 
far-sighted Elizabeth. Aided by her patronage, the gallant 
20 



230 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Sir Walter Raleigh, and other distinguished navigators, ex- 
plored the Atlantic coast of the new continent, and took 
possession of it for England. The queen named the country 
Virginia, in honor of herself, and made many attempts to 
colonize these new possessions. They were unsuccessful, and 
Elizabeth died before the first permanent settlement had been 
made in the colony of the virgin-queen. 

In the year 1566, Sir Thomas Gresham, an enterprising 
merchant, high in favor with Elizabeth, began the building 
of a large and commodious edifice, where merchants might 
meet for the transaction of business. Three streets were 
purchased, and eighty houses destroyed, to furnish space for 
the new erection. In 1570, Queen Elizabeth visited this 
building in great state, and caused it to be proclaimed by 
heralds and trumpets, that the name of this house should 
henceforth be " The Royal Exchange." 

The manufacturing industry of England received largely 
the patronage of this able sovereign. Of the pageants which 
were contrived to divert their gracious queen, none pleased 
her more than one exhibited by the woollen-weavers of Nor- 
wich. On a sloping stage were represented in pictures all 
the processes of the weaving art. At one end .of the stage 
sat eight little girls spinning worsted yarn, whilst at the 
opposite end sat eight others knitting the worsted stockings. 
From the centre a boy addressed the queen in verse, im- 
ploring her patronage for the industry of the town. The 
following is one stanza of the poetry thus recited : 

"We bought before,- the things which now we sell; 

These slender imps,* their Works do pass the waves; 
God's peace and thine, we hold and prosper well ; 

Of every mouth the hands, the charges saves. 
Thus through thy help, and aid of power divine 
Doth Norwich live, whose hearts and goods are thine." 

The manufacture of pins having heads was established in 

* An "imp" in those days meant simply a child. 



ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 231 

Elizabeth's reign. Before that time, ladies' dresses had been 
fastened with clasps, hooks and eyes, and " skewers" of gold, 
silver, or brass. These last were of course very small, and 
probably resembled pins without heads. 



Questions. — What is said of Wolsey in connection with the learn- 
ing of this age ? — Name some of the colleges founded during this 
century. — What is said of the accomplishments of the ladies of this 
age ? — Where had schools existed prior to the Reformation ? — How 
was the want of schools partially supplied when these were broken 
U p ? — What celebrated painter came to England ? — Relate the anec- 
dote of Holbein and the courtier. — What style of architecture was 
now introduced? — What Italian fashion was introduced into Eng- 
land ? — What peculiarity was exhibited in the manor houses of this 
period? — What motive may possibly have led to this device ? 

Relate the account .of Bartholomew Columbus's embassy to Eng- 
land. — What coasts were visited by English mariners ? — Relate the 
history of Sir Hugh Willoughby's expedition. — What did Sir Francis 
Drake accomplish ? — By what conduct did Sir John Hawkins mar 
his commercial fame ? — When was the East India Company founded ? 
— Describe the circumstances of this foundation. — Describe the early 
attempts to found a colony in America. — In whose reign were pins, 
with heads, invented ? — What had been used before in their place ? 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

AGRICULTURE — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS — AMUSEMENTS -r— CONDITION OP 
LOWER CLASSES — PARLIAMENT — COURTS OP LAW — ELIZABETH AND 
HER PEOPLE. 

During the earlier part of the sixteenth century, the great 
landholders were induced to convert their arable land into 
pasturage, both on account of having fewer villains than 
formerly to cultivate it, and also because of the very profitable 
demand for English wool. Frequently, on one estate, were 
to be found sheep-farms containing flocks of from ten to 



232 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

twenty thousand sheep. Hamlets and villages were deso- 
lated, or only occupied, as Latimer informs us, by a shepherd 
and his dog. From the middle of the century agriculture 
improved, and the land was made to yield more than it had 
formerly done. Clover was introduced ; hops were first cul- 
tivated extensively, and many new vegetables, such as salads, 
cabbages, melons, and artichokes, found their way into English 
gardens. 

Numerous delicious fruits were introduced from foreign 
countries. Apricots and currants from , Zante, plums from 
Italy ; also gooseberries and cherries. To the charms of the 
flower-garden were added the gilly-flower, carnation pink, 
Flemish and musk roses. Pleasure gardens were laid out 
after the Italian style : broad terraces, leading by steps into 
the beautiful grounds below, which wei;e ornamented with 
statuary, vases, and grottoes, and refreshed by the play of 
water in numerous marble fountains. 

The condition of the yeomanry improved greatly towards 
the close of this period. They dwelt in larger and better 
houses, frequently built of stone or brick. Pewter plates 
were substituted for wooden trenchers, and the hard, coarse 
bed and bolster gave place to good feather beds. A writer 
of this age laments these improvements, complaining that, 
whereas, " when the walls of houses were of wattled willow, 
we had oaken men j" now, luxury had made them effeminate. 
At Christmas they fared particularly well : — 

"Good bread, and good drink, a good fire in the hall; 
Brawn, pudding and sauce, and good mustard withal; 
Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies of the best; 
Pig, veal, goose, and capon, and turkey well drest ; 
Cheese, apples, and nuts, jolly carols to hear, 
As then in the country is counted ^ood cheer." 

If such was the improvement in the condition of the yeo- 
men of England, the style of the nobles was magnificent in 
proportion. Great was the pomp and stately ceremony which 
surrounded the royal table of Queen Bess. Gentlemen pros- 



ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 233 

trated themselves with the utmost reverence before placing 
the cloth upon it; ladies dressed in white silk rubbed the 
plates with bread and salt; tall, stout, scarlet-clad yeomen 
of the guard brought in the twenty-four courses on gilded 
dishes ; the lady-taster gave to each a mouthful of the dish 
he brought, in order to guard against poison; ladies, splen- 
didly dressed, carried the meats from this sumptuous table to 
an inner room, where the queen dined alone, or with a few 
of her ladies. During all this ceremony, twelve trumpets and 
two kettle-drums resounded through the royal dining-hall. 

Cloths and napkins were among the improvements in the 
table-furniture ; forks were not yet introduced. A complete 
change had taken place in the style of feasting. All the 
boisterousness, the tumbling, jesting, and buffoonery of the 
banquets of a former age were discarded, and the utmost 
stateliness, almost solemnity, of demeanor prevailed among the 
guests. The feasts of the lord mayor of London, who repre- 
sented, as it were, the hospitality of the city, were so famous 
for their good cheer, that " I have dined as well as my lord 
mayor," has passed into a proverb. 

Furniture was still scanty. King Henry YIII/s chamber, 
besides a bed and cupboard, contained only a " stool, a pair 
of andirons, and a small steel mirror covered with yellow 
velvet." Turkey carpets were introduced, but they were 
used chiefly as table-covers, and the floors continued to be 
strewn with rushes. A green cloth or carpet was spread 
before the throne, and those who received the honor of 
knighthood at coronations, were thence called carpet knights. 

Fashions in dress varied so greatly in this century, that it 
is almost impossible to describe them. The pictures of the 
celebrated men and women of Henry VIII/s and Elizabeth's 
reigns have made us familiar with some of these styles. The 
ruffs, which form such a striking part of the dress in the 
Elizabethan era, were at first made of linen. When the 
queen began to wear them of lawn and cambric, she found 
great difficulty in getting them sufficiently stiff. At length a 



234 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Dutch woman, named Mistress Dingham Vander-Plasse, who 
possessed great skill in starching, was invited to England at 
the queen's request, and succeeded in giving to the royal ruff 
its required stiffness. 

"Worsted and silk stockings came into wear towards the' 
close of Elizabeth's reign, and a slovenly kind of slipper, 
called pantoffles, was much worn ; they were either of velvet 
or leather, of the brightest colors, and embroidered with gold 
and silver. Perfumed gloves, also richly embroidered, were 
worn. The preposterous head-dresses of the former century 
were replaced by more modest caps or bonnets of velvet, and 
felt hats with conical crowns came into fashion. When 
travelling, ladies wore, to guard their complexions, black 
velvet masks furnished with eye-glasses. False hair was 
common, particularly as the fashion in the color of the hair 
varied greatly. The teeth of the ladies in Elizabeth's time 
were not false, but they were often so black and defective as 
greatly to mar the beauty of the mouth. This arose partly 
from the use of tobacco, which Indian weed had been intro- 
duced into England by Sir Walter Raleigh. The fashion of 
smoking became so universal, that even ladies practised it. 

After the decline of the tournament, riding at the ring and 
fencing became favorite amusements. In the first, the knight, 
whilst gracefully managing his horse, aimed his lance at a 
small ring fastened on a post; the object being to carry it off 
at the point of the weapon, whilst the horse was bearing the 
rider at the height of his speed. Pageants were much in 
vogue, especially during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Those 
arranged by the Earl of Leicester to entertain his royal mis- 
tress, during her visit to Kenilworth Castle, were costly and 
magnificent beyond any others of which we read, even in 
this age of splendid festivities. Water pageants were some- 
times exhibited on the Thames, when the gay decorations of 
the barges and music added to the attractions of the scene. 

Festivals of all kinds were celebrated with great merriment. 
Weddings, both among high and low, were especially joyous 



ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 235 

occasions. In the villages the bride was led to the church by 
her companions, all decked in rosemary, laces, and ribbons. 
Before her was b#rne the silver bride-cup, filled with wine, in 
which was placed a branch of gilded rosemary. Others of the 
village maidens carried huge bride-cakes and gilded garlands 
of wheat, whilst the air rang with music and the joyous shouts 
of the wedding company. 

The May-day festival was a season of great rejoicing 
throughout merry England. Bands of youths and maidens 
would resort to the woods, and, decking the May-pole with 
gay garlands, bring it home on May-morning, drawn by 
twenty or forty yoke of oxen, having their horns adorned 
with garlands of flowers. Gray scarfs and ribbons completed 
the decorations of the May-pole, around which, in their best 
and gayest attire, danced the young people of the village. 

Morris dances, and the milk-maid's dance, ranked high in 
favor among the amusements of May-day. The actors in the 
morris dances had their garments, which were of the gayest 
description, hung with little bells, varying in size and tone. 
This dance is supposed to be of Moorish origin, and intro- 
duced into England during the middle ages. The milk-maid's 
dance was performed by the milk-maids, with all the silver- 
ware they could borrow, piled in a pyramid on their heads. 
In this style they danced from house to house, receiving a few 
pence from each of their customers. 

Whilst we are dazzled by the splendor of courts, and watch 
with interest the rise and increasing prosperity of the middle 
classes in England during this century, we must not forget 
that there was a large body of people whose condition was 
truly miserable. Begging and robbery were so frequent, even 
in " the glorious days of good Queen Bess/' and the laws 
against them of such barbarous severity, that a year seldom 
passed in which hundreds of criminals were not condemned to 
the gallows or to slavery. 

Among the statutes passed against beggars in the reign of 
Henry VIII., was one leveled at a strange race of people 



236 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



called gypsies or Egyptians, because they were supposed to 
have come originally from Egypt These "outlandish" 
people, as the statute calls them, wandered from shire to 
shire, telling fortunes and committing petty robberies, until 
they became such disturbers of the peace that they were 
ordered to quit the country. The law commanded that they 
should depart within sixteen days, under penalty of imprison- 
ment and seizure of goods. Many, however, contrived to 
remain, and to this day the gipsy camp, pitched on the bar- 
ren heath, attests that the descendants of these strange aliens 
have not yet deserted English ground. 

During the reign of Henry VIII., the parliament seems to 
have been completely awed by the power of that imperious 
sovereign. Both Lords and Commons bent before his wrath, 
and passed the most contradictory and obnoxious bills, with 
scarcely a dissenting voice. The Commons, however, were 
gradually growing more important and powerful : their assent 
had become necessary to the passage of bills granting supplies 
of money. On one occasion, even in the terror-inspiring days 
of Henry VIII., they gave evidence of a spirit of resistance to 
unjust demands. 

To carry on the war with France, the king demanded 
the sum of eight hundred thousand pounds, to be raised 
by levying a property tax, at the rate of twenty per cent. 
The Commons, even though Cardinal Wolsey himself appeared 
in their midst to enforce the demand, resisted, and would 
only grant the king a tenth, with which he was forced to be 
content. The spirit of the Commons was upheld by the 
popular feeling among the citizens of London. It is said, 
that during the debate on granting the king this supply, 
citizens would accost commoners in the street, saying, " Sirs, 
will ye grant four shillings in the pound ? Do it, and take 
our threats and curses home with you to your households/' 

In Henry VII. 's reign, the king's council, when exercising 
criminal jurisdiction, held its sittings in an apartment at 
Westminster, called, from the decoration of the ceiling, The 



ENGLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 237 

Star Chamber. This name was now applied to the court 
itself ; which, being entirely under the sovereign's control, 
gradually increased its power and authority, until it possessed 
more than any other jurisdiction in the realm, and became 
an instrument, in the hands of kings and ministers, of great 
oppression. 

An ecclesiastical court, called the Court of High Commis- 
sion, was established in Queen Elizabeth's reign. It had 
exclusive jurisdiction concerning spiritual matters, the pun- 
ishment of heresies, the reforming of errors, &c. These two 
tribunals, the Star Chamber and Court of High Commission, 
became, in another generation, most tyrannical in their opera- 
tion upon a large class of English subjects. 

Elizabeth, towards the close of her reign, granted to favorite 
courtiers, monopolies, or exclusive privileges, to sell certain 
very necessary articles of daily consumption. This was hurt- 
ful to trade, and oppressive to the people. When the Commons 
complained of these monopolies, some members were disposed 
to defend the queen's right to grant them ; but when it came 
to the ears of Elizabeth that her Commons were thus greatly 
displeased, this wise sovereign withdrew her grants of monopo- 
lies, and won back the affections of the people. On another 
occasion she captivated her subjects' hearts, by remarking, 
when she refused some supplies which were voted her, " that 
money in the purses of her subjects was as good to her as in 
her own exchequer." 

Says an historian : " In the long line of sceptred ancestors 
of whom Elizabeth was the living representative, it would be 
difficult to select one, not merely from the Tudors and the 
Stuarts, who all sink into dwarf-like insignificance beside her, 
but even from the nobler and mightier Plantagenets — the 
men of iron, 

' of mailed breast, 
And gauntlet-hand and jewelled crest,' 

who could be placed on the same level for the highest quali- 



238 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

ties befitting a monarch, with this, England's deep-minded, 
high-spirited, stout-hearted, woman king !" 

Questions. — What is said of agriculture during this century ? 

What new vegetable productions were introduced and cultivated ? 

Name the different fruits brought into England.— What flowers 
added new beauty to the gardens ?— What is said of the condition 
of the yeomanry ? — What improvement took place in matters per- 
taining to domestic comfort ?— Repeat the lines describing the good 
cheer at Christmas. 

Describe the ceremony attending the royal table. — How did the 
style of feasting differ from that of a previous age ?— What is said 
of the lord mayor's feasts ? — Describe the furniture of King Henry 
VIII. 's chamber. — How were carpets used? — With what were the 
floors covered ? — What article of dress was much worn in Elizabeth's 
time ? — Describe the head-coverings of this period. — What is said 
of the teeth of the women of this age ? — Of the practice of smoking ? 

How were festivals observed in these days ? — Describe a village 
bridal procession. — Describe the celebration of May-day. — Name 
two dances much in favor with the people during these festivities. — 
What is said of the condition of the middle classes during this cen- 
tury ? — What of the condition of the lower classes ? — How was it in 
the days of Elizabeth ? — Against what people was a law passed in 
Henry VIII. 's time? 

What was the condition of parliament during Henry VIII. 's reign? 
— AVhat is said of the progress of the Commons ? — What spirit did 
they display in Henry VIII. 's reign? — Relate the instance given 
of this resistance. — What court was established in Elizabeth's reign ? 
— What did Elizabeth bestow on favorite courtiers ? — What are mo- 
nopolies? — Who complained of these monopolies? — Repeat the eulo- 
gium of an historian on Elizabeth's character ? 



JAMES I. 239 



PART IX. 
ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 

JAMES I.— CHARLES I.— CROMWELL— CHARLES II.— 
JAMES II.— WILLIAM III. 

A. D. 1603—1702. 

"Then dawned the period destined to confine 
The surge of wild Prerogative, to raise 
A mount restraining its imperious rage, 
And bid the raving deep no farther flow." . 

. Thomson. •" 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE FIRST ELEVEN YEARS OF JAMES I.'S REIGN. 

CONSPIRACIES — GUNPOWDER PLOT — PREROGATIVE — THE KING^S TASTES — 
CECIL — BACON — LADY ARABELLA STUART. 

The plague was raging in London ; the weather was dark 
and rainy; and altogether gloomy was the aspect of the 25th 
July, 1603, when the first of the unhappy race of Stuart was 
crowned king of England. 

At the accession of James I., there were three religious 
parties in the kingdom : the Established Church, the Roman 
Catholics, and the Puritans. The Papists hoped for the 
favor of the king, because of the religion of his mother; 
and the Puritans, because James had been so much indebted 
to the Presbyterians of Scotland, and had, it was affirmed, 
given them promises of support. James deceived the hopes 
of both these parties, giving all his countenance and favor 
to the Established Church. Very soon, the disappointed, 



240 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

both of religious and political parties, concerted plots against 
the king. These were discovered, and the parties punished. 
Among those who fell victims to these conspiracies was Sir 
Walter Raleigh. He was charged with conspiring against 
the life of the king, designing to overthrow the government 
and religion of the realm, and to place the Lady Arabella 
Stuart (a descendant of Henry VII.) on the throne. Raleigh, 
who was one of the greatest geniuses of his age, had rendered 
glorious services to the crown, as a navigator, a discoverer, 
and a brave defender of his country. All these claims were 
disregarded. He was brought to trial before a court com- 
posed of the bitterest Of his enemies j and, notwithstanding- 
one of the most eloquent defences that was ever pleaded in a 
court of justice, this brave man was declared guilty, and 
committed to the Tower. 

Towards the close of the year 1604, about twenty Roman 
Catholics, exasperated by the severe laws passed against their 
faith, entered into a conspiracy to blow up the parliament 
house. The ringleader of the Gunpowder Plot, as it is gene- 
rally called, was Robert Catesby, a country gentleman, of 
ancient family and good estate. The conspirators hired a 
cellar under the parliament house, and placed in it 

1605. . r . 

thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, covered with faggots 
of wood. One Guy Fawkes, a Flemish soldier of fortune, 
and a bigoted Papist, undertook to pay daily visits to the 
cellar, to see that all was right. The meeting of parliament, 
deferred from time to time, was to take place on the 5th of 
November, 1605, and that day was fixed for the execution of 
the dreadful design. 

The conspirators intended, if possible, to save one of the 
king's sons, Prince Charles, from destruction, but if this 
could not be done, his sister, the Princess Elizabeth, was to 
be proclaimed queen. Ten days previous, Lord Mounteagle, 
a Roman Catholic gentleman, and member of parliament, 
received a letter warning him not to go to the House of Lords 
on the 5th. The nobleman showed the letter to Sir Robert 
Cecil (a son of Elizabeth's wise statesman, Lord Burleigh), 



JAMES I. 241 

and the latter carried it to the king. Suspicions were aroused. 
On the afternoon of the 4th of November, the lord chamber- 
lain and Lord Mounteagle went to examine the vaults under 
the parliament house. They found there Guy Fawkes, whom 
they described as " a very tall and desperate fellow," but, after 
a few words, departed, leaving him unmolested. At two 
o'clock the next morning, as Guy Fawkes opened the door 
of the cellar, he was seized and bound by a party of soldiers, 
commanded by a magistrate of Westminster. He had no 
time to light the slow matches which were found about his 
person. Behind the cellar-door a dark lantern was discovered 
burning. Although put to the torture, Fawkes would confess 
nothing. The other conspirators, however, betrayed them- 
selves by flight. They all came to . a miserable end. Some, 
among whom was Catesby, were shot whilst defending them- 
selves against those sent to seize them, and many perished on 
the scaffold. The day of this great deliverance of the king 
and parliament of England is still observed as a day of public 
thanksgiving in the English church. Among the populace, 
bonfires are lighted on the night of the 5th November, and 
Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy. The laws against the 

Roman Catholics were made more severe than ever. 

• 

King James I. had a very high idea of the royal preroga- 
tive, or the rights claimed for kings because they are kings, 
and over which neither parliament nor law could have control. 
He held the sentiments which Shakspeare places in the mouth 
of King Richard II. : — - 

"Not all the water in the rough rude sea 
Can wash the balm from an anointed king : 
The breath of worldly men cannot depose 
The deputy elected by the Lord.'.' 

James had written books to prove that kings reign by 
divine right : and he taught therein, that it is the province 
of monarchs to rule by their own absolute will, and that 
the duty of subjects is to obey. In these exalted notions 
of the right of kings, James was upheld by the bishops 
21 Q 



242 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

generally, and by the greater part of the nobility. The 
Commons alone remained true to the trust reposed in them 
by the nation, and fought for their rights. Unlike the wise 
Elizabeth, whose economy rendered her less dependent upon 
her parliaments for supplies, and consequently less liable to 
have her prerogative called in question, James I. was extrava- 
gant, and demanded from the nation large grants of money. 
Whenever a parliament was called, the sturdy Commons, 
before voting a supply, demanded a redress of grievances. 

The grievances of which the nation complained were, that 
the king claimed, in virtue of his prerogative, to lay taxes 
and impose duties, without the consent of parliament ; — that 
his majesty caused his royal proclamations to take the place 
of the laws ; — and allowed the Court of High Commission to 
exercise great tyranny. So great was the king's need of 
money, that, when he could get none from the Commons, he 
chose other and unusual methods of procuring it. He sold 
patents of nobility, and created a new title, that of baronet, 
which he made hereditary and sold for a thousand pounds. 

King James, although he prided himself on his knowledge 
of government, and wrote, as he believed, very wise books on 
the subject, and was called by his flatterers the Scottish 
Solomon, had, in reality, very little understanding, and still 
less taste, for the duties which attend the faithful administra- 
tion of a kingdom. He was passionately fond of hunting, 
and issued a proclamation that on hunting-days (and they 
took up nearly half his time) he should not be disturbed by 
affairs of state. 

His subjects were loud in their complaints, which were not 
unmingled with satires. One day, whilst he was hunting at 
Royston, a favorite dog, named Jowler, was missing. The 
king was much disturbed, until the following morning, when, 
greatly to his delight, the hound reappeared. Round the 
animal's neck was tied a paper, on which was written the 
following petition : " Good Mr. Jowler, we pray you speak to 
the king (for he hears you every day, and so doth he not us), 
that it will please his majesty to go back to London, for else 



JAMES I. 243 

the country will be undone : all our provision is spent already, 
and we are not able to entertain him longer." Dressed in his 
hunting-garb of green, with a little feather in his cap, and a 
hunting-bugle by his side, the king of England thus pursued 
the pleasures of the chase, and left the government of his 
kingdom in the hands of ambitious courtiers. 

Sir Robert Cecil, secretary of state, had at first the 

1609. . ... 

greatest influence in public affairs. In 1612 he died, 
adding another to the many witnesses of the vanity of earthly 
glory: "Ease and pleasure quake to hear of death; but my 
life, full of cares and miseries, desireth to be dissolved :" were 
his dying words. Coke, the attorney-general, and Sir Francis 
Bacon, two celebrated lawyers, exercised also great control in 
state affairs. 

Bacon, though first among philosophers, as a courtier and 
a statesman was unprincipled and corrupt. " No name in 
British annals is more illustrious than his, and none is shaded 
with more lasting shame." Says a writer : " The difference 
between the soaring angel and the creeping snake, was but a 
type of the difference between Bacon the philosopher and 
Bacon the attorney-general — Bacon seeking for truth, and 
Bacon seeking for the seals." And the poet Pope, warning 
against mere greatness of intellect, exclaims : 

"If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, 
The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind. " 

He rose from one degree of dignity to another, until he 
became lord chancellor, and received the titles of Viscount 
St. Albans and Baron Verulam. Towards the clos^ of James' 
reign, Sir Francis Bacon was accused of bribery and corrup- 
tion in his duties as chancellor. He was tried and found 
guilty. To a deputation of lords who waited upon him, he 
confessed his guilt, saying : " It is my act,— my heart,— my 
hand. Oh ! my lords, be merciful to a broken reed." 

In this reign perished another victim to the jealousy of the 
monarch for his title to the throne— the Lady Arabella Stuart. 



244 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Like the victims of preceding reigns, she was beautiful, ac- 
complished, and unambitious, her only crime being that she, 
too, although in a more remote degree than James, was 
descended from Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII. As 
long as she remained single, although closely watched, the 
Lady Arabella was not persecuted, but on her marriage with 
Sir William Seymour, she was taken into custody, and her 
husband was sent to the Tower. Both contrived to escape. 
Sir William Seymour, in the disguise of a physician, managed 
1611 t0 get sa f e ty to Flanders, but the unfortunate Lady 
Arabella was seized midway across the Channel, and 
brought back to England, where, after four sad years of 
captivity in the Tower, she died insane. 

Questions. — What melancholy circumstances attended the acces- 
sion of James I. ? — Name the religious parties then existing. — De- 
scribe the expectations of each. — Which party did James favor? — 
What misfortunes befell Sir Walter Raleigh? — Relate the history 
of the Gunpowder Plot. — What effect had this conspiracy upon the 
condition of the Roman Catholics ? 

On what subject had King James very exalted notions? — What is 
meant by prerogative ? — What doctrine did James teach in his writ- 
ings? — Who agreed with the king in these views? — What body in the 
nation opposed these ideas of royal prerogative ? — To what did the 
king's extravagance frequently compel him ? — How did the Commons 
act when applied to for money ? — Desci'ibe the grievances of which 
the Commons complained. — What strange and new method did he 
take to procure money? — In what respects was James unfitted for 
the care of a kingdom ? — In what pursuit did he employ much time ? 

What able minister conducted the affairs of state in the early part 
of this reign ? — Repeat the dying words of this statesman. — Describe 
the character of Lord Bacon. — Repeat Pope's lines on this subject. — 
Give the sketch of his history. — Relate the story of Lady Arabella 
Stuart. 



JAMES I. 245 



CHAPTER XLI. 

THE LAST ELEVEN YEARS OF JAMES I.'s REIGN. 

* 

THE KING'S FAVORITE — THE PIUNCESS ELIZABETH EPISCOPACY IN SCOT- 
LAND — SIR WALTER RALEIGH — MATRIMONIAL NEGOTIATIONS. 

Besides the able, although unprincipled statesmen, men- 
tioned in the preceding chapter, James lavished honors and 
offices on still more unworthy favorites. The first of these 
was Robert Carr, a Scotch lad of great beauty, whom an acci- 
dent at a tilting-match threw at the king's feet. James, find- 
ing the education of this boy imperfect, even condescended 
to become his Latin tutor, giving him a lesson, every morning. 
Carr was knighted, received presents and honors, and soon 
grew so high in favor, that nothing was to be obtained at 
court, but through his influence. He was made Viscount 
Rochester, and, after the death of Cecil, became lord chamber- 
lain, and exercised, in effect, the power of a prime minister. 

In the year 1612, the Count Palatine, a German prince, 
came into England to marry the Princess Elizabeth. This 
marriage was celebrated with great splendor. Among the 
amusements was a water-pageant, gotten up by the gentlemen 
of Cray's Inn and the Inner Temple, designed to represent 
the marriage of the river Thames with the Rhine. The 
Princess Elizabeth accompanied her husband to Germany, 
where, in 1619, he was elected king of Bohemia, by the 
Protestants of that country. The Roman Catholic emperor 
~ of Austria made war upon Bohemia in consequence. 
The short-lived monarch was driven from his throne, 
and Elizabeth, unaided by her father, the English king, 
became a fugitive in a castle on the Rhine. 

The year following the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth, 
the favorite Rochester, now created Earl of Somerset, was 
united to the Countess of Essex. This marriage was opposed 
21* 



246 history or England. 

by Sir Thomas Overbury, Somerset's intimate friend, which 
opposition being reported to the beautiful but vindictive 
countess, she determined on revenge. Charges were brought 
against Overbury. He was thrown into the Tower where 
before the marriage, he died of poison, administered, it was 
whispered, by the agents of the wicked countess. After this 
marriage, Somerset's spirits became clouded; probably the 
death of Overbury weighed upon his mind. He lost the 
affection of the king, which was bestowed upon George Vil- 
liers, a new favorite, whom the enemies of Somerset had 
introduced at court. The fallen earl and his countess were 
now openly accused of the murder of Overbury. They were 
brought to trial, and received sentence of death; but a royal 
pardon having been granted, this guilty pair, after some years' 
imprisonment, retired from court, and passed the remaining 
years of their life in obscurity. 

The laws passed against Puritans, and all dissenters from 
the Established Church, were exceedingly severe in this reign. 
Not satisfied with upholding Episcopacy in England, James 
visited Scotland, to establish it there. The people of Scot- 
land regarded him as a traitor, both to the principles in which 
he had been educated, and to the promises which he had made. 
He appointed bishops, and ordered festivals to be celebrated ; 
but, so far from establishing Episcopacy, the people 
clung more fondly than ever to their Presbyterian 
Church ; and James only began a religious struggle, which, 
in the reign of his son and successor, was continued in rebel- 
lion and bloodshed. On his return to England, James pub- 
lished a " Book of Sports," commanding certain games, such 
as wrestling, morris-dancing and archery, to be practised on 
Sundays, " after evening prayers ended." The archbishop 
of Canterbury, and many others of the clergy, disapproved 
of this desecration of the Lord's-Day. It greatly shocked 
the feelings of the Puritans, and tended to widen the separa- 
tion between them and the Established Church. 

Sir Walter Raleigh had now languished for thirteen years 
in prison. He had cheered the weary hours of captivity by 



JAMES I. 247 

literary pursuits, and had written, within the walls of the 
Tower, a History of the World. With what eager interest 
he must have listened to the adventures of a kindred spirit, 
the daring John Smith, and learned of the first permanent 
settlement in that New World, towards which his efforts and 
hopes had been for many years directed ! And how he must 
have longed to share with the Jamestown colonists, the honor 
of planting the first English home in that land, the beauty 
of which he had so often praised, and to which he had been 
the pioneer ! 

His daring and adventurous spirit was as high and fresh as 
ever ; and in the year 1615, he proposed, on condition of re- 
covering his liberty, to fit out an expedition to Guiana, to 
discover a gold-mine, which he believed to exist there. He 
obtained the consent of the king, but a pardon was refused ; 
and the brave and accomplished adventurer left England on 
the 28th March, 1617, with a sentence of condemnation 
hanging over his head. 

The expedition was unfortunate. Many of the men died 
of disease, and many others deserted. A detachment sailed 
up the Orinoco, and attacked the Spanish town of St. Tho- 
mas. They burned it to the ground ; but in the attack the 
young and gallant son of Sir Walter was killed. No gold- 
mine was found ; and the broken-hearted father returned to 
England. Immediately on his landing, he was seized and 
thrown into the Tower. On the 29th October, 1618, he was 
beheaded, under a sentence passed against him fifteen years 
before. 

King James was anxious to marry his son Charles to the 
infanta, a princess of Spain. The nation was exceedingly 
averse to such a marriage, on account of the religion of the 
Spanish princess. The new favorite, however, Villiers, who 
had been made Duke of Buckingham, promoted the match. 
He, with Prince Charles, conceived the romantic project of 
visiting Spain in disguise, where the latter might pay his 
addresses in person to the Spanish infanta. It was 
some time before James would agree to this wild 



248 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. v 

scheme ; but he finally gave his consent, and the Duke of 
Buckingham, with the prince, proceeded to. the continent. 
They passed through France in disguise, but visited the court, 
where Charles saw the French princess, Henrietta Maria, 
whom he afterwards married. In Spain he was received with 
great distinction, and negotiations for the marriage were 
entered into. 

The reserved and haughty Spaniards were disgusted with 
the familiarity of Buckingham. Some idea of this trait may 
be formed from the letters which the favorite wrote to his 
royal master, in which he addresses him as " Dear Dad and 
Gossip/' Nor was James more careful to preserve the dignity 
becoming a king; for he calls Buckingham " Dear Steenie," 
and his son " Baby Charles." The prince and Buckingham 
returned to England, and shortly after, the negotiations for 
the Spanish match were broken off. 

This rejoiced the English greatly ; for they not only had 
been averse to the match, but angry with the king for re- 
fusing to declare war against the Spanish monarch, in behalf 
of his Protestant son-in-law, the Count Palatine. The latter 
was fighting for the recovery of his crown against the com- 
bined power of Spain and Austria. At length James was 
obliged to'send a small force to the continent, under»a 

1634. ° ' . 

famous German general, Count Mansfeldt. Nothing 
was effected by this, however; and the Princess Elizabeth 
and her husband still remained fugitives, not only from the 
kingdom of Bohemia, but also from their former possessions 
on the Rhine. 

James now opened negotiations with the court of France, 
for the marriage of Prince Charles with Henrietta Maria, the 
sister of the French king. These were successful ; but before 
the arrival of the princess in England, the king was seized 
with his last illness. He died at his favorite palace, at Theo- 
balds, on the 27th of March, 1625. 

Questions. — By what circumstance was Robert Carr brought to 
the king's notice? — Describe the favor to which he attained. — Who 



CHARLES I. 249 

visited England in 1612, and for what purpose ?— What is said of the 
celebration of this marriage ? — Relate the subsequent history of this 
princess and her husband. — Give an account of the fall of the favor- 
ite, Rochester. —Against what sects were severe laws passed during 
this reign ? — Describe the attempt to introduce Episcopacy into Scot- 
land. — Mention the result. 

What was commanded by James in the Book of Sports ? — What 
effect did this command have upon the Puritans? — Describe the 
manner in which Raleigh passed the years of his imprisonment. — 
On what terms did he procure his release ? — Relate his subsequent 
history. — What marriage did the king plan for his son?— How was 
it regarded by the nation ? — Why ? — Who promoted it ? — Give some 
account of the journey to Spain. — How did it result? — Describe 
James's conduct towards his son-in-law. — What marriage did the 
king now propose for his son ? — Where and when did James die ? 



CHAPTER XLIL 

THE FIRST SIXTEEN YEARS OF CHARLES i/s REIGN. 

PARLIAMENT — THE KING'S ADVISERS — BUCKINGHAM — LAUD — STRAFFORD 
— THE KING'S THIRD PARLIAMENT — CROMWELL SHIP-MONEY — EPISCO- 
PACY IN SCOTLAND — THE KING'S DIFFICULTIES — LONG PARLIAMENT — 
TRIAL OF STRAFFORD — LAUD — IRELAND. 

On the 16th July, 1625, Charles L, with his light-hearted 
French bride, passed up the Thames to the royal palace at 
Whitehall. No dark shadow of coming events clouded the 
joy of the royal party, and who could dream that the day 
would come when the monarch and his queen should be 
fugitives from that palace : the first never to re-enter it, save 
on his way to the scaffold, where, in front of those stately 
walls, his head should be laid upon the block. 

Charles I. began his reign with even higher notions of the 
divine right of kings than his father had held. Meantime, 
parliament, especially the House of Commons, had grown both 
in the knowledge of its rights, and in a determination to 
maintain them. By industry and thrift the nation had 



to 
1639. 



250 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

become rich, so that the wealth of the Commons of England 
was, at this time, threefold that of the Lords, that proud 
nobility who, in centuries past, claimed the sole right to 
possess either riches or power. 

In the three parliaments which the king called during the 
1635 first four or five years of his reign, the Commons, 
before granting supplies, demanded a removal of their 
grievances; paying little heed when the king told 
them to " remember that parliaments were altogether in hfs 
power for their calling, sitting, or dissolution, and that, there- 
fore, as he should find the fruits of them good or evil, they 
were to be or not to be." Finding that the Commons 
remained obstinate, the king in each case dissolved the 
parliament. 

It was the misfortune of Charles not only to have been 
educated in ideas of the royal prerogative totally unsuited to 
the spirit of the people whom he governed, but also to choose 
for his nearest friends and advisers, men who upheld him in 
these opinions with a bigotry alike ruinous to their master 
and to themselves. 

The first of these was the Duke of Buckingham. The acts 
of tyranny to which he prompted the king, irritated the 
nation. From motives of revenge against the French king 
and his minister, Cardinal Richelieu, Buckingham induced 
his royal master to give him the command of a body of troops 
in aid of the French Protestants. The latter, with a 

1637. . ' 

feeble force in the city of Rochelle, were opposing 
the whole might of Cardinal Richelieu and Roman Catholic 
France. The first attempt for their relief was unsuccessful, 

and the following veai* Buckingham went to Ports- 

1638. & J ° , 

mouth to prepare a second expedition. There he was 
assassinated by a Puritan fanatic, who gloried in the deed, 
believing that by it he had delivered his country and his 
religion from their greatest enemy. In fact, the nation, in 
complaining of their wrongs, had called Buckingham " the 
grievance of grievances." 

The other advisers of Charles were Laud, afterwards arch- 



CHARLES I. 251 

bishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Wentworth, made Earl of 
Strafford. 

Laud had as high notions of church government as Charles 
had of kingly rule, and indeed they believed the two to go 
hand in hand. Laud introduced many new ceremonies and 
rites into the church, and was suspected of wishing to make 
its liturgy more like the Romish ritual. This aroused the 
Puritans, who, both in books and sermons, opposed the tyran- 
nical attempts of the archbishop to make the entire nation 
conform to the Established Church. The Puritans also wrote 
and preached against performances on the stage, against May- 
poles, Christmas garlands, dancing, &c. 

These writings and sermons were highly displeasing, as the 
amusements which they condemned were those in which the 
court especially indulged, and many Puritan authors were 
severely punished in consequence. . Alexander Leigh ton, a 
Scotch preacher, was publicly whipped, put in the pillory, had 
one of his ears cut off, and his cheek branded. These were 
common punishments inflicted on the " sowers of sedition/' as 
such preachers and writers were called. This Leighton was 
the father of the pious Archbishop Leighton. 

Thomas Wentworth had once been a warm friend of the 
Commons, but, by bribes of titles and honors, had been won 
over to the king. When his desertion became known, Mr. 
Pym, a member of parliament, said to him : " You have left 
us, but we will never leave you, while your head is upon 
your shoulders." 
163g In the third parliament which Charles held, the 
to Commons drew up the famous " Petition of Eight." 
This " Petition" was designed to obtain from the 
king the observance of certain rights, secured indeed by 
Magna Charta, but which Charles had frequently and openly 
disregarded. The king evaded, as long as possible, his assent 
to this appeal, but at length, pressed by want of money, 
solemnly granted the " Petition of Right." One quarrel 
between the king and his parliament was about "Tonnage 
and Poundage," a tax somewhat similar to custom-house 



252 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

duties of the present day. This duty could only be granted 
to the king by parliament, but Charles had levied it by his 
own authority, even after granting the " Petition of Right," 
which was expressly intended to prevent his doing so. 

In this third parliament a committee was appointed to 
consider the state of religion. One of the men who composed 
it was Oliver Cromwell, member for Huntingdon. This re- 
markable man, then thirty years old, " always a year older 
than the century" (as Carlyle significantly remarks), stood up 
in this committee on the 11th of February, 1629, and made 
his first speech in parliament. He said that he had heard 
that "flat Popery" had been preached by a clergyman at 
Paul's Cross, and that the bishop had commanded that 
nothing to the contrary should be preached : that, moreover, 
the bishops and clergy who were most inclined to Rome, 
received the richest livings. He concluded by asking : " If 
these are steps to church preferment, what may we not 
expect ?" 

Oliver Cromwell was the son of a yeoman in Huntingdon. 
He was born on the 25th April, 1599. Of his early life very 
little is known. His mother, Elizabeth Steward, of Ely, is 
said to have traced her ancestry to the royal Stewarts of Scot- 
land. It would be a striking and singular fact, if even a 
remote cousinship existed between Charles Stuart and Oliver 
Cromwell. 

In the year 1616, Cromwell, then a lad of seventeen, 

entered Sidney-Sussex College, at Cambridge. Four years 

after, we find him married to Elizabeth, daughter 

1630. [ . ' ° 

Landing of Sir James Bouchier, a knight, of London, and 
of tiie taking his father's place at the old home in Hunt- 

Pilgrims. & L . 

mgdon. For the next nine years we know little 
of him, save that he was leading the life of a country gentle- 
man, his mind alive to the events passing in the kingdom, 
and daily growing more earnest in his convictions as a 
Christian and as a Puritan. In 1629, we notice his first 
appearance in public life. Soon after, he became a farmer at 



CHARLES I. 253 

St. Ives (five miles from Huntingdon), " by the shores of the 
sable Ouse, on the edge of the fen country" of Lincoln. 

King Charles's third parliament was dissolved in 1629, and 
none sat again in England for eleven years. 

Among the king's unlawful measures for raising funds, was 
the levying of a tax called "ship-money." The discovery 
had been made, by one who aided the king in these arbitrary 
exactions, that, in former times, the seaport towns, occasionally 
the maritime counties, and, in a few rare instances, the inland 
places, had been made to furnish ships for the crown. Charles 
determined to revive this ancient demand, in virtue of the 
royal prerogative, to extend the requisition throughout the 
kingdom, and to exact money instead of ships, at the rate of 

£3300 for every ship. In January, 1635, in the 
to parish of Great Kimble, at the foot of the Chiltern 

Hills, in Buckinghamshire, the assessors of ship- 
money appeared and summoned the people to pay the tax. 
John Hampden, a country gentleman of pure Saxon descent, 
and a cousin of Oliver Cromwell, attended the meeting held 
in the parish church. He declared that the king had no 
right to levy the ship-money, and therefore, though the assess- 
ment in his case was only twenty shillings, he refused to pay 
it. Hampden was tried for this refusal, and after a long suit, 
sentence was pronounced against him in 1638 ; but his firm- 
ness encouraged others, and resistance to the tax of ship- 
money spread through the country. 

At this juncture, Charles, by the advice of Arch- 

1637. . J ' . 

bishop Laud, attempted to introduce Episcopacy into 
Scotland. The Scots were filled with indignation. A woman 
named Jenny Geddes, hurled a stool at the head of one of the 
bishops. It seemed the signal for violence throughout the 
land. The people assaulted the prelates, threw sticks and 
stones at the clergymen who attempted to read the liturgy, 
and almost threatened to tear down the churches about their 
heads, amid cries of "Apape!" "Apape!" "Antichrist!" 
4 ' Antichrist !" 
22 



254 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Finally the Scots, animated by religious enthu- 
siasm, raised an army, and under banners bearing the 
inscription, " For Christ's crown and covenant/' marched to 
encounter the king's forces which had been raised to quell 
them. They met near the river Tweed, but no engagement 
took place. Charles found the enemy stronger than he had 
anticipated, and perceived, moreover, that there was no dispo- 
sition on the part of his own troops to make the attack. 
Charles was forced to withdraw his army and enter into treaty 
with the Scots. 

Wentworth, soon after he had taken sides with the king, 
had been sent to govern Ireland. He was a man of great 
ability, and succeeded in restoring something like order to 
that distracted country. He even managed to obtain from 
the Irish parliament supplies of money for the king. When 
Charles was in the midst of his troubles with the Scots, he 
sent for Wentworth, made him Earl Strafford, and asked his 
advice. Strafford, thinking that he could manage 
the English parliament as well as he had done an 
Irish one, advised his master to summon it. This parliament 
met in April, 1640. The spirit of the Commons was as high 
as ever, and as they began upon the old subject of grievances, 
before granting any money, the king dissolved it, at the end 
of a short session of three weeks. 

Charles was now in greater trouble than before. The Scots, 
with a good stout army in " uniform of hodden gray, with blue 
caps," had crossed the border, successfully encountered the 
royal forces, and entered England to a present their griev- 
ances to the king's majesty." The sympathy of the great 
body of the English people was with them, nor had Charles 
and his advisers either the money or the troops sufficient for 
their reduction. Under these circumstances he was compelled 
to enter into negotiations with the Scots, and moreover to 
yield to the clamors of the nation, and summon his fifth and 
last, — the celebrated Long Parliament. It met on the 3d 
November, 1640. 

One of its earliest acts was to impeach for high treason, 



CHARLES I. 255 

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, and Laud x archbishop 
of Canterbury, both of whom were sent to the Tower. There 
was no sufficient evidence on which Strafford could be con- 
victed of high treason, but the people, excited against him, as 
they had formerly been against the Duke of Buckingham, 
because they believed- him to be the adviser of Charles's 
tyrannical measures, clamored for his death. After a long- 
trial, which absorbed the attention and interest of the nation, 
the court pronounced Strafford guilty, and sentenced him to 
the block. Charles, after much wavering, yielded to the 
pleas of his courtiers, and gave his assent to the fatal bill. 
One honest man alone was found — the good Juxon, bishop of 
London — who urged the king not to go against his conscience. 
In a letter addressed to Charles, Strafford had written : "I do 
most humbly beseech your majesty, for prevention of evils 
which may happen by refusal, to pass this bill." He added : 
" My consent shall more acquit you herein to God, than all 
the world can do besides." When, however, Charles took 
him at his word, and the consent of the king to his death was 
made known to the fallen courtier, he exclaimed: " Put not 
your trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for there is no 
help in them." 

On the day in which Strafford's bill of attainder 
jg^ x ' received the royal assent, another important bill, that 
annulling the king's prerogative for dissolving parlia- 
ment, passed the great seal. Previously, Charles had been 
forced to consent to a bill for triennial parliaments, and on 
the 5th of July of this year, he consented to the removal of 
the detestable courts of High Commission and Star Chamber. 
Three years later, Archbishop Laud was brought to a trial 
similar to that of Strafford, before bitter enemies. Con- 
demned to death, he laid his head upon the block, with an 
unshrinking courage, praying for forgiveness of his enemies, 
and uttering among his last words, " I desire to depart and be 
with Christ." 

After the death of Strafford, a rebellion broke out in Ire- 
land. It was headed by Roger More, a Roman Catholic, and 



256 HISTORY 01* ENGLAND. 

directed against the English of the Pale, as the Protestant 
colonists of Ireland were called. The news produced a great 
excitement in England, and men and money were raised to 
put down the rebellion. The king was so lukewarm in sup- 
pressing this outbreak, that suspicions were aroused of his 
being in league with the Roman Catholics. He was accused, 
moreover, of soliciting the aid of foreign princes to quell the 
growing power and spirit of his parliament. 

Questions. — When and under what circumstances did Charles 
ascend the throne? — How did Charles regard the royal prerogative? 
— Describe the progress and prosperity of the Commons at this time. 
— What demands were made by the king's first parliaments ? — How 
did Charles act on each of these occasions? — What was the character 
of the king's advisers ? — From what motives did Villiers promote an 
expedition against the French government? — Describe the object of 
this expedition and the result. — What befell Villiers the following 
year? 

Name two other advisers of the king. — Describe the character and 
conduct of Archbishop Laud. — How did the Puritans oppose the 
archbishop ? — Relate the persecutions which they suffered in conse- 
quence. — Describe the conduct of Wentworth. — What was the Peti- 
tion of Right ? — How received by the king ? — What was tonnage and 
poundage ? — Relate Charles's conduct with regard to this tax. — On 
what occasion did Cromwell first speak regarding public affairs ? — 
Describe his appearance and remarks. — Relate his history up to this 
period. 

Mention the precedent which encouraged the king to levy the tax 
called ship-money. — Describe the conduct of Hampden in this con- 
nection. — Mention its result. — Describe Charles's attempt, to intro- 
duce Episcopacy into Scotland. — State the result. — Relate the suc- 
cess of Wentworth's government in Ireland. — To what did he advise 
the king at this juncture? — With what success? — Describe the con- 
duct of the Scots at this time. — What circumstances compelled the 
king to treat with them ? — Describe the parliament which met on the 
3d November, 1640.— Mention one of its first acts.— Give an account 
of the trial, imprisonment, and death of Strafford. — What important 
bills passed in parliament on the day of Strafford's attainder? — 
Describe the end of Archbishop Laud. — What occurred in Ireland 
during the year 1641 ? — What accusations were brought against the 
king? 



CHARLES I. 257 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE LAST ELEVEN YEARS OF CHARLES I.'S REIGN. 

SEIZURE OF THE FIVE MEMBERS — THE KING'S FORCES — THE PARLIAMENT'S 

ARMY — CIVIL WAR — RELIGIOUS PARTIES — THE KING AND THE SCOTS 

CONDUCT' OF CROMWELL — THE KING'S DOWNFALL. 

Distrust of King Charles grew stronger day by day. But 
nothing so roused the fears of the nation as his attempt to 

seize in their places in the house, five members of 
164:2 ' ^ e Commons on the charge of high treason. These 

gentlemen withdrew, before the king entered West- 
minster Hall, and were safely lodged in the city beyond his 
majesty's reach. This breach of parliamentary privilege 
injured Charles more than anything else in the eyes of his 
subjects. His coming to the house with an armed band, 
induced them to think of getting the military force of the 
kingdom, for the future, under their own control. 

With this view, parliament passed a bill for the naming of 
such lords-lieutenant of counties, as would raise a militia 
mindful of their interests. The king refused his assent to a 
bill which would place this power in the hands of the parlia- 
ment. That body then resolved to muster an army and put 
the kingdom in a state of defence, without the king's consent. 
Of course, when affairs were in such a state, civil war could 
not be far distant. The king, who had gone into the north, 
issued his " Commission of Array/' for levying troops. His 
cause was strongest in the north, the west, and the south of 
England. His army was raised chiefly among the nobility, 
who were most loyal in their devotion to the king. The 
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and some of the 
country gentlemen in the north, also favored the royal cause. 
The queen, who had gone to Holland, pawned the crown 
jewels, and sent her husband money. Many of the king's 
officers were well skilled in the art^of war, but the bad morals 
22* R 



258 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

of his troops, especially those commanded by his nephew, 
Prince Rupert, who had come over from Germany, excited 
the indignation of the people. Prince Rupert (or Prince 
Robber, as he was nicknamed) scoured the counties of Eng- 
land, burning and pillaging. The word plunder, which 
originated in Germany during the miseries of the Thirty 
Years' War, was now heard for the first time in England. 
Well would it have been had the deeds of robbery and wrong 
which the word describes, been for ever and in all lands 
unknown. 

The parliament published their " Ordinance of 
*i64ta! Militia," and enlistments, especially from among the 
lower classes, soon swelled their ranks. Although 
there were few well-trained soldiers amongst them, they were 
enthusiasts for the cause in which they fought. Such zeal 
was shown in contributions, from the bag of gold, or silver 
plate, of the wealthy Londoner, down to the poor country- 
woman's silver thimble, that their army was called, in derision, 
" the thimble and bodkin army." John Hampden and Oliver 
Cromwell had commissions as colonels in the parliament's 
army. Colonel Hampden gathered his men under a banner, 
bearing on one side the inscription, " God with us," and on 
the other the Hampden motto, " Yestigia nulla retrorsum" 
(never retracing our steps). Cromwell set about raising 
troops who should be "men of religion," and soon he had 
raised his famous body of "Ironsides," among whom no 
drinking nor disorder nor impiety was allowed ; nor swearing, 
because for every oath a fine of twelve pence was paid. There 
were nearly as many preachers as soldiers in the parliament s 
army, and much time was spent in listening to sermons and 
attending prayer meetings. The Puritaus looked upon their 
enemies as Amalekites, Philistines, and idolaters, whom they, 
as God's chosen people, were commissioned to punish and 
overthrow. Roundheads was a nickname given, in derision, 
to this army, because of the fashion generally prevalent among 
the Puritans, of cropping the hair close. Cavaliers and 
Malignants were terms applied to the royalist army. 



CHARLES I. 259 

It would be useless to give all the details of the 
to history of the next four years, during which, after the 

1646. j a p ge f near iy two centuries, Englishmen again met 
in deadly strife. It will suffice, after naming the first en- 
counter, to mention those battles most important in their 
results. The contest began at Edge Hill, in Warwickshire, 
by an indecisive action, in which both parties claimed 

leka ' tne v i ctorv ; but °f tne f° ur thousand who, at even- 
ing, lay dead in the Vale of the Red Horse, at the 
foot of Edgehill, the greater number were royalists. In a 
skirmish fought in the following year, at Chalgrove Field, 
near Oxford, the virtuous and admirable Hampden, ever 
memorable for his resistance to the ship-money, lost his life. 
His was a death lamented alike by both parties. In the west 
of England the king's cause strengthened, and Bristol was 
given up to the royalists. 

Parliament now asked aid of the Scots. The only condition 
on which the latter would grant it, was, that the English par- 
liament and army should sign their " National Covenant/' by 
which the Scots hoped to establish Presbyterianism in Eng- 
land. There was at this time a party rising into importance, 
called the Independents, among whom Oliver Cromwell was a 
conspicuous leader. They carried their opposition to the king 
and his misgovernment much farther than the Presbyterians, 
but held more enlarged views of religious liberty. Indeed, 
" religious toleration," a doctrine very little understood or 
relished in those days, was said by their enemies to be " the 
Great Diana" of the Independents. 

The National Covenant of the Scots was a bond into which 
they had entered for upholding the Presbyterian kirk of Scot- 
land, at the time when Charles had first attempted to establish 
Episcopacy in that kingdom. The Independents were averse 
to the Covenant, and one of their number, Sir Harry Yane, 
who was negotiating the treaty at Edinburgh, induced the 
Scots to add the title of League to their national bond, thus 
giving it something of a civil as well as religious character. 
Under its new name, that of the " Solemn League and Cove- 



260 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

riant," it was subscribed in both kingdoms. Afterwards, 
however, to the great displeasure of the Scots, many were 
allowed to serve in the army who had not taken the Covenant. 
A large Scottish army under Leslie, Earl of Leven, entered 
England early in the following year, and being joined by the 
parliament's forces under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Man- 
chester, besieged the royalists in the town of York. Oliver 
Cromwell served under Manchester as his lieutenant-general. 
Prince Rupert, hastening from the west, relieved the besieged 
city, and then, against the advice of the Duke of Newcastle, 
an older and better commander, insisted on giving; 
1644. battle to the parliament forces on Marston Moor. 
The result was, the bloodiest engagement of the 
whole war, entire victory to the Roundheads, chiefly owing to 
the desperate valor and able conduct of Oliver Cromwell, and 
utter ruin to the royalist cause in the north. York surren- 
dered, and in its glorious old minster the parliament army 
arid their Scotch allies returned thanks for this great victory. 
The divisions between the Independents and the Presby- 
terians were becoming daily more marked. The Independents 
accused the Presbyterians of mismanaging the war, and, more- 
over, of a desire to continue it, that they might keep the 
powers of government in their own hands. The Presbyte- 
rians were equally offended at the Independents, on account 
of their defence of religious liberty. The carrying in parlia- 
ment of the celebrated " Self-Denying Ordinance" settled the 
contest in favor of the Independents. By this ordi- 
nance the army was to be reorganized, and all com- 
manders who held seats in parliament, whether in the House 
of Lords or House of Commons, were to resign their com- 
missions. The new commander-in-chief was Sir Thomas 
Fairfax. In favor of Oliver Cromwell, who was too able a 
soldier to lose, the " Self-Denying Ordinance" was dispensed 
with. He was kept in the army, and soon won, at Naseby, 
the most brilliant of his victories over the king. This battle, 
fought in Northamptonshire, in the centre of England, in 
June, 16-45, was the last in which King Charles took personal 



CHARLES I. 261 

command. The next ten months witnessed sad reverses to 
the royal cause. Bristol, Chester, Winchester, Basing-House, 
and many other important towns and royal strongholds in the 
south and west of England, were taken by the parliament- 
arians. 

Charles now looked with hope towards Scotland, where his 
gallant partisan, the Marquis of Montrose, at the head of a 
force of Irish and Highlanders, was winning important victo- 
ries for the king. But Montrose's brilliant career was ended 
in the autumn of this year, 1645, by a battle near Selkirk, in 
which the Scotch G-eneral Leslie scattered his forces, and 
drove him a hopeless fugitive back to the Highlands. The 
king retired dispirited to his loyal city of Oxford, but even 
there he felt far from secure. He remained in a wavering 
state of mind for some months, seeing nothing but trouble 
and difficulty before him wherever he turned. At 
1646 ' l en gth> dreading the approach of Cromwell's troopers, 
and the horrors of a siege, he escaped in the disguise 
of a groom, and fled to Newark, to throw himself into the 
hands of the Scotch Presbyterian army. Charles hoped that 
if he promised to tolerate their religion, they would, out 
of jealousy of the Independents, re-establish him upon his 
throne. 

The Scots urged the king to sign the Covenant, and agree 
to certain propositions, which had been presented by parlia- 
ment, for the safety of the kingdom, as the only condition on 
which they would support him. They urged in vain, and, 
after much consultation and negotiation, agieed to deliver 
Charles into the hands of the parliament. Commissioners 
were sent to receive the royal captive, who was carried by 
them to Holmby House, a stately mansion in North- 
amptonshire, which his father, King James, had 
purchased for him, when a boy, as a royal residence. It was 
not far from Naseby Field. Here, in the month of June, 
Charles was surprised by Cornet Joyce, and five hundred 
soldiers, who had come to take him out of the hands of the 
parliament, and carry him to the army. The king demanded 



262 history or England. 

by what commission they had come. The cornet replied 
by pointing to his array of armed men. The king smiled, 
acknowledging it was a " fair commission/' and certainly one 
not to be resisted. He accompanied Cornet Joyce, rather 
pleased on the whole to get out of the hands of the Presby- 
terians. He was honorably treated by the army ; allowed to 
have his x own chaplains, and to see his children, whom he 
tenderly loved. 

At various times during the course of the war, efforts had 
been made to bring about a reconciliation with the king; but 
the insincerity of Charles towards all parties was such that 
the thing was impossible. He was buoyed up either with the 
hope of foreign assistance, or, if that failed, of being able to 
take advantage of the divisions between the Presbyterians and 
the Independents, and, by means of one or the other of these 
parties, to get back to an absolute throne. 

A council of officers, in which Cromwell and his son-in-law, 
Ireton, took a leading part, had drawn up " Proposals" 
providing for a just and wise system of government, 
and for religious toleration. These " Proposals," the best 
which were ever made to the captive king, Charles rejected. 
The deserted monarch indulged the vain hope that he should 
yet triumph over his enemies. In a letter to the queen, 
written at this time, he says he is courted by both the army 
and the Scots, but thought he should close with the latter, 
sooner than the other ; that she might be entirely easy as to 
any concessions he might make to his enemies ; for that he 
should know in due time how to deal with the rogues, who, 
instead of a silken garter (the queen had charged him with 
promising to make Cromwell a knight of the Order of the 
Garter), should be fitted with a hempen cord. A spy told 
Cromwell of this communication to the queen, and that a 
messenger bearing the letter sewed up in the skirt of a saddle, 
was to leave that night from an inn in Holborn, for Dover. 
Disguised as troopers, Cromwell and Ireton went to the inn, 
and awaited, over their cans of beer, the arrival of the mes- 
senger. When he came in, they seized the saddle, and, 



CHARLES I. 263 

ripping up the skirts of it, found the letter with the above 
contents. From that moment it is probable that Cromwell 
resolved to put no further trust in the king. 

Shortly after this affair, Charles, being more closely watched, 
imagined that his life was in danger, and, with a few attend- 
ants, escaping from Hampton Court, where he had been lodged 
by the army, threw himself into the hands of the governor of 
the Isle of Wight. The king was actuated by several motives 
in choosing this place of refuge. The governor, Colonel 
Hammond, had said that he should go " down to his govern- 
ment, because he found the army was resolved to break all 
promises with the king, and that he would have nothing to 
do with such perfidious actions. " This declaration may have 
led Charles to hope that his designs might be secretly favored, 
if not promoted, by this officer. 

In the Isle of Wight, moreover, he could better derive 
advantage from the fleet, should the sailors at any time return 
to their allegiance. Above all, he was on the coast, and, should 
everything turn against him, could more readily, as his advisers 
urged, " take boat, and dispose of his person into what part 
beyond the seas he pleased." 

At first the king was allowed comparative liberty. He rode 
abroad, and received the impression that he might leave the 
island at his own free will and pleasure. When, however, the 
king's place of refuge became known, parliament sent orders 
to the Governor to keep a strict guard upon his person. 

These orders were obeyed, and Charles, finding himself 
more closely a prisoner than he had ever been before, tried to 
force the bars of his grated window at Carisbrook Castle, and 
escape to France. He did not succeed. The miserable life 
which the king had led told upon his appearance. The once 
handsome monarch had become a prematurely gray and worn- 
out old man. At Carisbrook he passed his time in reading, 
and in conversing with the gentlemen who attended him, both 
of whom were highly-cultivated men. 

Meanwhile the hostility between the parliament and the 
army, which was, in truth, a struggle between Presbyterianism 



264 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

and Independency, grew daily more bitter. The parliament 
were still willing to consider terms of reconciliation with the 
king, whilst Cromwell and the army had resolved that no 
more treaties should be offered him. The latter, to secure 
possession of his person, ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Cobbet 

to convey Charles from Carisbrook, to the solitary, 

gloomy castle of Hurst, on the Hampshire coast. 
Having possession of the king, a band of armed soldiers, 
under Colonel Pride, entered London, surrounded the parlia- 
ment house, and seized the principal members. Many fled, 
and all that remained were fifty Independents. This seizure 
is generally called Pride's Purge, and the members who were 
left are known as the Rump Parliament. 

In the dreary walls of his prison-house, Charles was filled 
with fears for his life. The idea of his subjects bringing- 
their king to trial, and passing a judicial sentence upon him, 
could never have entered into the imagination of this firm 
believer in the divine right of kings. When, therefore, on 
the night of the 16th December, 1648, he heard the creaking 
of the drawbridge, and the tramp of armed men, he feared the 
hour of his assassination was come. Great was his relief on 
finding that their commission was to convey him to Windsor 
Castle. On the route, Charles received touching evidences 
of the reviving love and loyalty of the people towards their 
discrowned and fallen monarch. On the day that his majesty 
entered Windsor, the few Independents who now were left as 

the House of Commons, appointed a committee to 
^Q^g 3 ' draw up charges against the king. On the 6th 

January, 1649, a high court of justice was appointed 
for the trial. On the 20th, Charles Stuart was summoned 
before it, and accused of treason. For seven days, in the 
presence of that court, composed of those subjects whose 
power he had despised, was King Charles obliged to appear, 
and listen to the fearful charges of criminal misrule which 
were brought against him. On the last day of the trial, 
Charles Stuart, as "a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public 
enemy/' was sentenced to be executed. 



CHARLES I. 265 

On the 30th January, 1649, on a scaffold erected in front 
of the royal palace of Whitehall, the king's head was laid 
upon the block. He met death with calmness, even cheerful- 
ness. " I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown," 
were his last words, addressed to Bishop Juxon. When tne 
executioner had performed his office, and the severed head 
was held up in the sight of the people, "one dismal, universal 
groan" broke from the awe-stricken witnesses of this fearful 
deed. 

Questions. — Describe Charles's attempt to seize the five members 
of the Commons. — What effect did it produce upon the nation ? — 
Mention the bill introduced at this time in parliament. — What was 
the consequence of the king's refusal of this bill ? — Describe the 
king's army. — By what means did the parliament raise troops ? — 
Ascribe the zeal which pervaded them. — Mention two distinguished 
commanders. — Describe the character and discipline of the parlia- 
ment's army. — Where was the first battle fought ? — With what re- 
sult ? — F.or what was the skirmish at Chalgrove Field memorable ? 

On what condition did the Scots promise to aid the parliament- 
arians ? — Describe the views of the Independents.— What was the 
Scotch National Covenant ? — Relate the manner in which it acquired 
the additional title of League. — How was it then received in Eng- 
land ? — Describe the battle of Marston Moor, and the result of it. — 
Mention the grounds of dispute between the Independents and the 
Presbyterians. — By what parliamentary act did the former triumph ? 
— Relate the provisions of that act. — Who was exempted from it ? — 
Give an account of the battle won by him shortly after. 

Describe Charles's reverses.— -What circumstances defeated his 
hope of aid from Scotland ?— Mention his subsequent conduct. — 
What motive induced him to act thus ? — Relate the conduct of the 
Scots with regard to the king. — By what means did he fall into the 
hands of the Independents t-— How was he treated by them ? — What 
defeated every attempt to enter into treaty with the king? — By what 
false hopes was he actuated? — Relate the discovery of Charles's 
treachery made by Cromwell and Ireton. — Relate the king's subse- 
quent conduct. — Describe his attempt at escape. — What induced the 
king's removal to Hurst Castle ?— Describe the proceedings of the 
army w f ith regard to the parliament. — Describe the trial of the king. 
—Relate the circumstances and manner of his death. 
23 



266 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

ENGLAND A COMMONWEALTH. 

CHANGES — IRELAND — PRINCE CHARLES — THE DUTCH WAR. 

On the 9th of January, before the trial of King Charles, 
the great seal had been broken and a new one made. 

1649. ft 

It bore on one side the words " The Great Seal of 
England/' and on the other, " In the first year of freedom by 
God's blessing restored 1648."* 

Seldom has a great change in a nation's government been 
effected with so little bloodshed. Three royalists and four 
discontented mutinous soldiers were all who suffered in the 
•mighty revolution which converted England from a monarchy 
into a republic. The remnant of Charles's Long Parliament 
still continued its sittings, but the House of Peers was 
abolished, and the government vested in a committee called 
" The Executive Council of State." Cromwell and other 
distinguished members of the army were of this council. 

Its secretary was John Milton. Little care we for the deeds 
of state recorded by the Puritan secretary ; whilst we dwell 
with enthusiasm upon those glorious descriptions of higher 
transactions in the Court of Heaven, which fell from the all 
but inspired pen of the author of " Paradise Lost." 

The affairs of the church were settled by allowing greater 
toleration than had ever before been permitted within the 
realm. In the army, the same masterly hands which had 
raised it to such a pitch of greatness, retained the command. 
In the navy, Blake, " the sea-hero of that age," was made 
high admiral, and given the command of the fleet. 

The affairs of Ireland were in a most distracted condition. 
The native Irish and Romanists had risen against the Pro- 

* Old Style. 



ENGLAND A COMMONWEALTH. 267 

testant English of the Pale, until scarcely a town, excepting 
Dublin and Deny, were left, in which the latter could feel 
safe. The Marquis of Ormond had proclaimed Charles (eldest 
son of the late king), and the royal standard floated over the 
island. Cromwell and Ireton crossed St. George's Channel 
with nine thousand men. Town after town was re- 

1650. 

taken, and the spirit of insurrection crushed. 

Ireland was quiet, but this tranquillity was secured at the 
price of cruelty, burning, bloodshed, and massacre, which will 
ever cast a stain on the administration of Cromwell. When 
Cromwell had broken the strength of the rebellion, he re- 
crossed the Channel, leaving Ireton to finish the conquest, 
and govern the country. After the death of Ireton, which 
occurred some years later, Cromwell's second son, Henry, was 
sent into Ireland. Under his wise and good administration, 
that kingdom not only enjoyed quiet but prosperity. 

The murder of the king, for such was the execution of 
Charles I. considered by most of the governments abroad, and 
by the royalists at home, had raised up a host of enemies 
against the infant commonwealth. France, Spain, Portugal, 
and Russia committed acts of hostility. In Holland, six 
masked royalists fell upon the English minister and murdered 
him. In the colony of Virginia, the authority of the new 
government was denied, and the fugitive Prince Charles was 
invited to cross the ocean, and become king in that province. 
This invitation had no result, save winning for that most 
loyal colony the title of " The Old Dominion." 

The darkest clouds arose from Scotland. There Prince 

Charles had been proclaimed, and invited into the country. 

The prince was at Breda, in Holland, when he received the 

propositions of the Scots. In them lay his only hope of a 

crown, and he sailed for Scotland. Before he left 

lo50. 

his vessel, which anchored in Cromarty Frith, the 
prince was obliged to sign the " Solemn League and Covenant," 
and he entered the gates of Aberdeen, over which were hung 
the lrmbs of that loyal partisan, the gallant Marquis of Mon- 
trose. 



268 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

The English parliament appointed Cromwell commander-in- 
chief of the army, and sent him into Scotland. At Dunbar, 
about twenty miles from Edinburgh, Cromwell, with only 
twelve thousand men, was surrounded by the Scots, whose 
forces numbered twenty-seven thousand. The latter were 
well posted, too, on the hills which rise above the town. It 
was unwise to attack them in this strong position, and Crom- 
well waited. On the second day, the Scots, animated by hopes 
of certain victory, rushed down from the hills ; whereupon 
Cromwell joyously exclaimed : " The Lord hath delivered 
them into our hands." On the morning of the 3d of Sep- 
tember, a mist which had hung over the field, rolled away, 
and the clear sunlight revealed the contending armies. " Now, 
let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered/' shouted the 
Puritan general, as he rushed into the conflict. Ere it ended, 
four thousand of the Scots army lay upon the bloody field, and 
ten thousand prisoners swelled the train of the conquerors. 
Cromwell offered praise for this victory, in the glowing lan- 
guage of King David, by ordering the 107th Psalm to be 
sung upon the battle-field. Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other 
towns submitted to the Puritan army. 

The following year, whilst Cromwell was besieging 
Edinburgh Castle, Charles gathered an army and 
marched into England, hoping to be joined by the royalists, 
and, with their aid, to gain the English crown. When this 
news reached Cromwell, he started at once in pursuit. At 
Worcester, on the 3d September, the anniversary of the battle 
of Dunbar, this praying, fighting, praising, Puritan general 
gained another great victory, which he called " his crowning 
mercy." No doubt he felt it to be such, for, had royalists and 
Presbyterians united in support of Prince Charles, the power 
of Cromwell and the army might have been broken. 

As it was, Charles Stuart became a fugitive, indebted for 
his life to the faithful loyalty of a family of Staffordshire 
wood-cutters. In the humble cottage of the Penderells, amid 
the woody shades of Boscobel, he lay concealed for many 
weeks. On one occasion, the thick foliage of a friendly oak 



ENGLAND A COMMONWEALTH. 269 

sheltered hiin from Cromwell's troopers, who, passing directly 
under the tree, uttered, in gay tones, their confident hope of 
obtaining the price set upon the head of the fugitive Stuart. 
" I know he is in these woods," were words that reached the 
ears of the trembling Charles, as his pursuers passed and re- 
passed under the boughs of the Royal Oak. After many 
romantic and perilous adventures, and intrusting the secret 
to forty persons, not one of whom, whether of high or low 
degree, betrayed him, Charles succeeded in escaping to 
France. 

Meanwhile, Cromwell marched to London, where he was 
received with great enthusiasm. Many grounds of hostility 
existed between the republic of Holland and the common- 
wealth of England, and, on the 19th July, 1652, parliament 
declared war against the Dutch. This war was carried on at 
sea, and redounded to the glory of the English navy. The 
Dutch had three celebrated admirals: Van Tromp, De Ruyter, 
and De Witt. They were skilful navigators, brave seamen, 
and veterans in naval warfare. To these the English opposed 
the genius and valor of Admiral Blake. 

On the 29th November, Van Tromp, with a fleet of eighty 
vessels and ten fire ships, surprised an English fleet of thirty- 
seven ships in the Downs. Blake gave him battle. The 
conflict lasted from ten in the morning until six in 

1653. . ° 

the evening, and ended in the triumph of the Dutch. 
Van Tromp was so elated with his victory that he fastened a 
hroom to the mast-head of his ship, to indicate his intention 
of sweeping the seas of every English fleet. 

But this Dutch emblem of destruction was soon to be 
lowered from the mast-head, and, before the war was ended, 
the Dutch struck colors still more essential to the pride of 
the republic, than the vaunting broom of Van Tromp. In 

February, Blake a°;ain en^a^ed the Dutch fleet, and, 

1653. J} & ° fe , ' . ' 

after three days' hard fighting, won the victory, having 
sunk eleven of the enemy's ships, and lost only one of his own. 
Two more such victories, gained the following summer, closed 
the war. 
23* 



270 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

The last of these engagements commenced at five o'clock in 
the morning of the 31st of July. At ten o'clock, the brave 
Admiral Van Tromp, fighting in the hottest of the battle, was 
shot to the heart by a musket ball. " And no sooner was his 
life spent, but the hearts of his men were broken, a general 
consternation suddenly possessing the whole fleet, so that the 
seamen had more mind to carry home the news of their 
renowned admiral's death, than to take vengeance on the 
English for killing him." In this hard-fought battle, the 
English navy lost only two ships, whilst thirty of the Dutch 
vessels were destroyed. With it ended the Dutch War. 



Questions. — Describe the new seal. — Mention the only victims 
who suffered in this revolution. — Describe the changes -which took 
place in the government. — Who was Cromwell's secretary ? — Repeat 
the mention made of Milton. — What is told in relation to the church, 
th_e army, and the navy ? — Describe the condition of Ireland at this 
time. — Who undertook its subjection? — Mention the circumstances 
with which it was effected ? — Who succeeded Ireton ? — What was the 
character of his administration ? 

What countries evinced hostility towards England ? — Describe the 
conduct of Virginia. — What course had been taken in Scotland ? — 
Describe Charles II. 's reception in that country. — Who was sent 
against the Scots ? — Describe the battle of Dunbar. — What followed 
upon this victory ? — Relate Charles's efforts in the ensuing year. — 
What battle was fought ? — With what result ? — Relate Charles's ad- 
ventures in Staffordshire. — Whither did he finally escape ? 

Against what country was war declared in 1652? — Mention the 
distinguished naval commanders in this war. — Give an account of 
the battle in the Downs. — What effect did it produce upon the 
Dutch ? — Relate the victory gained by the English the following 
year. — Describe the battle which ended the war. 



CROMWELL AS LORD PROTECTOR. 271 

CHAPTER XLV. 

CROMWELL AS LORD PROTECTOR. 

CROMWELL AND THE PARLIAMENT — THE PROTECTORSHIP — FOREIGN POLICY 

THE PURITAN COURT — CROMWELL'S DOMESTIC AFFLICTION — HIS DEATH 

— RICHARD CROMWELL — RESTORATION OF MONARCHY. 

The Long Parliament had become unpopular with the 
army, and with the nation. It was split into factions, and 
was accused of being unjust and self-seeking. "We all 
forget God, and He will forget us/' exclaimed Cromwell. 
" God will give us up to confusion, and these men 
will help it on, if they be suffered to proceed in their 
ways ; some course must be thought of, to curb and restrain 
them, or we shall all be ruined." And truly the course was 
decided enough, which this remarkable man took to avert the 
ruin he feared. 

On the 20th April, he entered the house, having a band 
of soldiers, whom he posted at the door. After listening 
awhile to the debate, he rose, exclaiming : " Now is the time 
— I must do it," and, telling the members that " the Lord 
had done with them," he ordered in his soldiers, who cleared 
the house. When the last member had departed, Cromwell 
ordered the doors to be locked, and, putting the keys in his 
pocket, returned to Whitehall. Thus ended the famous Long 
Parliament. In the afternoon of the same day, Cromwell 
went to Derby House and dissolved the council of state. 

The government of England for three months remained in 
the hands of Cromwell. At the end of that time a new par- 
liament was called, generally known as Barebone's Parliament, 
from the name of one of its leaders, who was a dealer in 
leather. This parliament was far from being an assembly of 
the wisdom of the nation, and, after they had held their 
sittings for five months, Cromwell prevailed upon them to 
dissolve, and resign their power into his hands. 



272 history or England. 

A council of officers now proclaimed Cromwell 
T^o Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England. 

loads ° 

The powers of government were to be shared by a 
parliament to assemble in less than six months, and to contain 
a much larger representation of the English nation than had 
hitherto met in that body. European princes hastened now 
to seek the favor of the great protector, whose wisdom never 
appears greater than when viewed in connection with his 
foreign policy. Under him England became the leading 
state in Europe. 

He demanded of Spain, free trade with South 

America and the West Indies. The minister of that 
court replied : "It was like asking for the king of Spain's 
two eyes." Cromwell, who declared that a ship of war was 
the best ambassador, sent immediately a fleet, commanded by 
Admiral Penn, to the West Indies. The conquest of the 
valuable island of Jamaica was the result of this expedition. 
Another English fleet, under Admiral Blake, suppressed the 
Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean. 
Milton had prayed, 

" Avenge, Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ;" 

and the pen of the poet, and the power of the protector, were 
the instruments by which God answered the prayer. The 
duke of Savoy, and even the Pope, quailed before the strong 
arm of Cromwell, and the suffering Waldenses were relieved 
from persecution. To this day, amid the mountain valleys 
of Piedmont, the name of the English protector lives in 
grateful remembrance. 

The brilliant success of Cromwell's foreign policy did not 
save him from the machinations of enemies in Eng- 
land. Plots and conspiracies were rife, not only 
among the royalists, but also among the Levellers, or Fifth 
Monarchy Men. The latter were a set of fierce enthusiasts, 
who dreamed of an ideal theocracy, in which there should be 



CROMWELL AS LORD PROTECTOR. 273 

no king but Jesus Christ, and no parliament but a council of 
the saints. The parliaments which met after Cromwell had 
been named lord protector, did not co-operate with him. 

He was advised by some to make himself king, and to 
restore hereditary monarchy to England. This proposition 
Cromwell decided it were wisest to reject. Refusing to be 
crowned, he was solemnly inaugurated protector of the king- 
dom at Westminster Hall, on the 26th June, 1657. The 
court of the Puritan protector, graced by the learning of 
x\rchbishop Usher, the presence of the poets Waller, Marvell, 
and Dryden, and, above all, irradiated by the noble genius of 
Milton, must have been a model of dignity, elegance, and 
high-toned moral excellence. 

In addition to the cares of public life which harassed his 
mind, Cromwell was called to encounter trials of a private 
nature. The domestic affections of the protector were strong 
and ardent, and the death of a favorite daughter, Lady Clay- 
pole, is supposed to have hastened his own. He died on the 
afternoon of the 3d September, 1658, on the anniversary of 
his great victories at Dunbar and Worcester. "I am a con- 
queror, and more than a conqueror, through Jesus Christ, 
who strengtheneth me," were among the last words uttered 
by the great protector, ere his spirit passed away from earth. 

Richard Cromwell was named protector, but resigned the 
office in a few months, beins; utterly unable to master 

1659. . . . ' ° f 

the factious spirit which now prevailed in the country. 
General Lambert, who had hopes of attaining power, com- 
manded the army in England. General Monk was at the 
head of the forces in Scotland. The latter determined to 
revive the cause of monarchy, and secure the restoration of 
Prince Charles. The remnant of the Long Parliament had 
again taken their seats, and Monk, courting their favor, so 
blinded them as to his real designs, that they invited him to 
London, supposing he would secure their authority. 

All this time Monk was in close negotiation with Charles, 
who was at his old refuge in Holland. On the 25th of April, 
a new parliament, consisting of both Lords and Commons, as 

S 



274 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

in the days before, the Commonwealth, assembled at West- 
minster. On the 1st of May, a letter from Charles was pre- 
sented to this body, who, after a few hours, voted a 

1660. . 

loyal answer to the absent prince. All the slumbering 
feelings of loyalty seemed suddenly to awaken, and the nation 
which had brought his royal father to the block, now rent the 
air with shouts of " Long live King Charles II. I" The new 
monarch, with his brother, the Duke of York, landed at Dover 
on the 25th of the same month. 

Questions. — Repeat Cromwell's remarks upon the Rump Parlia- 
ment. — Relate his proceedings towards this assembly.— What fol- 
lowed its dissolution ? — Name and describe the next parliament. — 
What office was conferred upon Cromwell in 1653? — By whom? — 
By whom was the government to be administered? — Describe the 
protector's conduct with regard to Spain. — Relate the advantages 
gained. — Describe his further achievements among foreign states. 

State some of the dangers and difficulties to which Cromwell was 
exposed in England. — What is remarked of the court of the pro- 
tector ? — What domestic affliction befell Cromwell ? — When did he 
die ? — Repeat some of his last words. — Relate briefly the career of 
his successor. — Describe the conduct of General Monk. — In what 
did it result ? — Describe the popular feeling at this time. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

CHARLES II. 

ACTS OF PARLIAMENT — THE REGICIDES — INGRATITUDE OP THE KING — 
SCOTLAND — FOREIGN RELATIONS — PLOTS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 

On the 29th of May, 1660, the exiled Stuart was restored 
to the throne of England. He entered London through 
streets hung with tapestry and garlands, flowers strewn in his 
path, and shouts of rejoicing rending the an. The return- 
ing tide of loyalty overflowed the nation with a force which 
threatened utter destruction to every landmark of constitu- 
tional right which the last thirty years had set up. 



CHARLES II. 275 

Charles II. was restored to the throne of his father with 
scarce a limit (save the word of a Stuart) to the royal pre- 
rogative. The duty of tonnage and poundage was granted to 
the king for life, and the proposition was made to increase 
the royal income to over a million pounds a year. The 29th 
of May, the anniversary alike of his birth and of his restora- 
tion, was made a religious festival. 

All who had taken part in the death of the late king were 
called regicides, and their lives were in danger. Many fled 
to other lands, and the colonies of New England received not 
a few of the fugitives of the Restoration. About twenty-nine 
were put to death in the most cruel manner, and even the 
dead bodies of the leading Puritans were not allowed 

1661. . ° 

to rest in their graves. 

On the 30th of January, the anniversary of the execution 
of King Charles I., the remains of Cromwell, Ireton, and the 
brave naval hero, Admiral Blake, were taken from their 
honored tombs in Westminster Abbey. The mouldering 
bodies were hung upon a gibbet, and when taken down, 
were thrown with every mark of indignity into unconsecrated 
ground. 

The Presbyterians, who had been active in recalling the 
exiled monarch, trusting that his gratitude would secure their 
influence in the state, soon found cause to repent their confi- 
dence. The church of England was restored, and all dissent- 
ing clergymen, Presbyterians and Puritans alike, were obliged 
1662 to Ascribe to an "Act of Conformity" to the Estab- 
lished Church, or to be turned out of their livings. 
Two years later, a " Conventicle Act" was passed, forbidding 
the assembling for religious worship, anywhere but in the 
churches of the Establishment. In the same session of 
parliament in which this act was passed, the law obliging 
the king to summon parliament once in three years was 
repealed. 

In Scotland, Charles II. forgot the gratitude he owed to 
those Presbyterians who had been the first to espouse his 
cause in his contest with Cromwell. " I placed the crown 



276 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

upon his brow, and this is my reward," said the Duke of 
Argyle, when sentence of death was passed against him. 
Argyle was a leading Covenanter, but had ever been a steady 
friend to the restored Stuart. 

These were unhappy days for the kirk of Scotland : 

" The assembled people dared in face of day no more 
To worship God, or even at the dead 
Of night, save when the wintry storm raved fierce, 
And thunder peals compelled the men of blood 
To couch within their dens." 

Often these little congregations of Covenanters and Camero- 
nians would be surprised, even in their wild hiding-places, by 
a party of dragoons, headed by the fierce and cruel Claver- 
house. Many were led forth to death; others were subjected 
to torture, or languished in prison-houses. • Many became 
exiles to a land of religious liberty, and the infant colonies 
of America received valuable additions in the persecuted 
Covenanters of Scotland. 

The cruelty exercised in Scotland by Archbishop Sharp 
excited the hatred of the people, and, instead of establishing 
Episcopacy, they clung with almost fanatical ardor to the 
Covenant. At the end of many years of tyranny, the arch- 
bishop, whilst riding with his daughter, was waylaid and 
barbarously murdered by a party of Covenanters, headed by 
an enthusiast named John Balfour. Troops were sent into 
Scotland. The Covenanters were defeated in battle; — were 
hunted and dragged from their hiding-places, and put to 
death without. mercy. Horrible tales are told of their suffer- 
ings within the remote and gloomy prisons of Bass Rock and 
Dunbarton Castle. 

The military and political history of this reign discloses 
little else than treachery on the part of King Charles. To 
obtain money for his own extravagant and vicious pleasures, 
seems to have been the sole object of this king's government. 
He sold to the French king, Dunkirk, an important posses- 
sion on the coast of Flanders, which Cromwell had taken 



CHARLES II. 277 

from the Spaniards. This measure greatly exasperated the 
nation. In the year 1664, Charles, hoping to secure for his 
own pleasures the money raised for the expenses of the army, 
declared war against the Dutch. Scarcely had this war begun, 
ere a dreadful plague, the most fearful which had ever visited 
England, spread over the land. In London alone, one hun- 
dred thousand inhabitants were carried off in the space of five 
months. The following year, 1666, an equally terrible fire, 
known as the great fire of London, broke out in the capital, 
and burned more than two-thirds of the city. The sailors, 
unpaid and starving, were dying in the streets, and the glory 
of the English navy was fast disappearing. The Dutch, 
under their admiral, De Buyter, sailed up the Medway, 
destroyed the fortifications at Sheerness, burned some of the 
finest English ships, and threatened the city of London. 
Charles was now glad to end a war which had been pro- 
ductive of little good to the country. 

When peace was made, the people clamored against 
the Earl of Clarendon, who was accused of having 
advised this now unpopular war. The chancellor, to escape 
the fate of Strafford, fled to France, and the government fell 
into the hands of a set of men, known as the Cabal, from the 
initial letters of their names : Clifford, Arlington, Bucking- 
ham, Ashley, and Lauderdale. 

In 1669, Charles pretended to become a party to what was 

known as the Triple Alliance ; a union of England, Holland, 

and Sweden, against the ambitious monarch of France, Louis 

XIV. Whilst the English ambassador was negotiating this 

alliance at the Ilague, the king was entering into, a 

1670. . . . 

secret treaty with the French monarch, promising, for 
an annual pension of two hundred thousand pounds, to keep 
true to the interests of that despot, and to aid him in con- 
quering Holland. Two years later, relying on the money of 
the French king, Charles, without his parliament's consent, 
began a war against the Dutch. 

The whole power of France, aided by England, was now 
turned against the republic of Holland. But the Dutch were 
24 



2/o HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

not to be destroyed. They opened their dikes; the ocean 
flowed in and washed over their villages and farms, so 

1673. ° ' 

that no enemy could get to Amsterdam. Under the 
young Prince of Orange (a nephew of Charles II., afterwards 
William III. of England), they maintained a long and ob- 
stinate struggle. Their famous admirals, De Ruyter and 
De Witt, gained several important victories over the com- 
bined fleets of France and England; and, in less 
than two years, Charles II., in spite of his promises 
to Louis, was forced to make peace with the brave republic. 

In the year 1677, the Prince of Orange was married to his 
cousin Mary, eldest child of James, Duke of York, the brother 
of the English king. The reign of Charles was disturbed, at 
different times, by plots, or suspicions of plots, attributed both 
to Roman Catholics and Dissenters, who were equally op- 
pressed by the severe laws passed against them. One of 
these plots was devised by an infamous man named Titus 
Oates. He pretended that whilst in a Jesuit college on the 
continent, he had found out a plan laid by the Romanists to 
murder the king, and give the government of Eng- 
land into the hands of the Jesuits. 
Although there was not the slightest evidence that any 
such conspiracy existed, the feeling against Popery was so 
strong, that the nation became greatly excited. A bill was 
passed preventing Roman Catholics from sitting as members 
of either house; nor did they regain their seats in the English 
parliament until the passage of the Catholic Emancipation 
Bill, in 1829. Shortly after the above enactment, the parlia- 
ment, which had lasted seventeen years, was dissolved. 

Two other parliaments were called during this reign. The 
first of these passed the celebrated act of Habeas Corpus, 
which provides against unjust detention in prison 
without trial. A bill was introduced to exclude 
James, Duke of York, who was a Roman Catholic, from the 
throne. Charles, fearing lest this bill should be carried, took 
advantage of the repeal of the Triennial Act, and suddenly 
dissolved parliament, in January, 1681. A new one was 



CHARLES II 279 

assembled in March of the same year, but as the bill of 
exclusion was again brought up, the king dissolved it at the 
end of the first week. 

The terms Whig and Tory now became general. The 
Whigs were opposed to Popery and absolute rule, and desired 
to exclude a Papist from the throne. The Tories sided with 
the king, and were generally High-Churchmen or Roman 
Catholics. 

A plot, known as the Rye-House Plot (because the 
conspirators met at a place called The Rye, in Hert- 
fordshire), caused the death of two noble, virtuous, and accom- 
plished men — Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney. They 
were accused of conspiring against the life of Charles II. and 
the Duke of York, and of designing to place a Protestant king 
upon the throne. They were tried by a court composed of 
both political and personal enemies, and received with the 
calmness and dignity of conscious virtue, the sentence of 
death which was pronounced against them. 

The prosecutions of those implicated in these plots were 
conducted by the infamous Lord Jeffries, a man who now 
began a career of cruel oppression, which has rendered his 
name hateful to every lover of justice and virtue. 

In the year 1683, the Princess Anne, the Duke of York's 

second daughter, married Prince George of Denmark. Two 

years later, Charles II. died. Previous to his death, 

1685. J ' . ' 

a Roman Catholic priest was privately introduced 

into his chamber, and there is little doubt that he died in the 
communion of the church of Rome. He had married Cathe- 
rine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess, but she had borne 
him no children, and the crown passed to his brother, James, 
Duke of York. 

Questions. — What is the date of the Restoration ? — Describe 
Charles's entry into London. — Mention the imprudence of the na- 
tion on this occasion. — What became of those who had taken part 
in the death of the king? — Mention the outrage offered to the re- 
mains of distinguished Puritans. — Describe the king's treatment of 
Protestant Dissenters. — Relate Charles's ingratitude towards the 



280 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Duke of Argyle. — Describe the unhappy condition of the Scotch 
church at this time. — What was the fate of Archbishop Sharp ? — 
Describe the sufferings of the Cameronians. 

Mention the dishonorable acts committed by Charles in order to 
obtain money. — Describe the two calamities which befell London in 
the years 1665 and 1666. — What was at this time the condition 
of the navy ? — Relate the disaster which befell England in conse- 
quence. — Of what was the minister Clarendon accused? — How did 
he protect himself? — Into whose hands did the government then 
fall? — Relate the king's treacherous conduct during the year 1669. 
— Against what country did he declare war three years later? — 
Describe the spirit and conduct of the Dutch. — In what did it 
result ? 

"What classes of English subjects were tempted to form conspira- 
cies against the government ? — Describe the one known as Titus 
Oates's Plot. — W r hat bill was passed in consequence of this plot? — 
Name the important act passed in parliament in 1679. — What bill 
of exclusion was brought in ? — How did Charles prevent its being 
carried? — What two political parties existed at this time? — Describe 
their respective aims. — What plot was discovered in 1683 ? — What 
distinguished men suffered in consequence of this conspiracy ? — 
Relate the circumstances of Charles's death. — Who succeeded to the 



CHAPTER XLVIL 

THE FIRST YEAR OF THE REIGN OF JAMES II. 

HIS DECLARATIONS — HIS CONDUCT — ARGYLE — MONMOUTH — CRUELTIES — 
JEFFRIES. 

When King James came to the throne, he told his council 
that he intended to preserve the government, both in 
church and state, as it was already by law established ; 
that he would support and defend the church of England, 
and preserve the nation in all its just laws and privileges. 
This declaration gave great joy, and no opposition was made 
to his coming to the throne. 

In a few days, however, his actions proved the falsity of 



JAMES II. 281 

these fair words. He caused the Romish chapel to be opened, 
and went publicly to mass. He proclaimed that his brother, 
the late king, had died in communion with the church of 
Rome, and he caused the most barbarous punishment to be 
inflicted on Titus Oates, the author of one of the plots against 
the Roman Catholics in Charles's reign. 

The revenue granted to Charles for life, of course ceased at 
his death, but James, acting by the advice of Judge Jeffries, 
continued to levy it without calling a parliament. He also 
courted the aid and begged the money of France, to render 
him independent of parliament. When parliament met, a 
revenue of a million pounds for life was voted to the king, 
and large supplies of money to repel the threatened invasion 
of the Dukes of Argyle and Monmouth. 

Argyle was a Scotch Protestant nobleman, a son of the duke 
who had suffered death at the Restoration. Monmouth was 
an illegitimate son of Charles II. ; an ardent Protestant, and 
very much beloved by the lower classes of the English. 
These noblemen met in Holland, and planned an invasion to 
drive James from his throne, and establish the Protestant 
religion in the three kingdoms. The Duke of Argyle was to 
land on the western coast of Scotland, where his own clan and 
the Covenanters were strongest. Monmouth, at the same 
time, was to invade the south-west of England. 

The Scottish duke appeared, with a mere handful of men, in 
the Western Highlands, but Monmouth lingered in Holland. 
Few gathered to the standard of Argyle, who soon fell into 
the hands of his enemies, and was put to death. His fol- 
lowers were seized, and met their death courageously. One 
of them confessed his share in the invasion, boldly declaring 
that it was a sacred duty to resist tyrants, and that "he did 
not believe that God had made the greater part of mankind 
with saddles on their backs, and bridles in their mouths ; and 
some few, booted and spurred, to ride the rest." 

Another, when examined before James, was reminded by 
that monarch, that it was in his power to pardon him. " It 
is in your power" replied the undaunted prisoner, " but not 
24* 



282 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

in your nature." The truth of this bold repartee was con- 
firmed, not only by the sentence of death, which James pro- 
nounced against the man who uttered it. but by all the acts 
of his cruel reign. 

About a week before the defeat of Argyle, the Duke of 
Monmouth landed in Dorsetshire. There and in Somerset- 
shire he was received with enthusiasm by the lower classes, 
but few men of note joined him. He entered Taunton 
through streets strewn with flowers; a band of young maidens 
presented him with a Bible, and a standard wrought by their 
own hands. Monmouth received the Bible with reverence, 
and declared he had come to defend the truths which it 
contained. He assumed the title of king, and advanced 
slowly into the country. He wasted much time in trying to 
drill and discipline his army of peasants and raw recruits. 
Many proved treacherous, and when he encountered the 
king's forces at Sedgemoor, he was totally defeated. Mon- 
mouth fled from the field, and wandering about for some days, 
was at length discovered, in the disguise of a peasant, crouch- 
ing in a ditch half hidden by ferns and nettles. He begged 
to see the king, and when conducted into his presence, pleaded 
hard for his life. His petition was refused, and, after a few 
days' imprisonment in the Tower, this unhappy pretender was 
beheaded. 

The consequences of this rebellion were terrible to those 
who were in any degree implicated in it. Colonel Kirk, a 
soldier, who had once been governor of Tangiers, and who 
certainly vied with heathen Moors in barbarity, was sent into 
Somersetshire to punish the rebels. He and his soldiers 
plundered, burned, and killed. But even their atrocities 
were merciful, compared to the infamous cruelties of Judge 
Jeffries, who was sent to try all who had taken part in the 
rebellion. 

It would be painful to dwell upon the wickedness of this 
most wicked judge. The old, the infirm, the young and 
helpless, women and children, were alike condemned to prison, 
torture, and death. To these " Bloody Assizes," as the infa- 



JAMES II. 283 

mous trials were justly called, hundreds of the Protestant 
yeomen of England fell victims. In Somersetshire, the 
streets of thirty-six villages were filled with the heads and 
limbs of these victims, hung in every conspicuous place, and 
even " over the very churches devoted to a merciful Grod." 

"England," says a writer, "was now an Aceldama; the 
country for sixty miles together, from Bristol to Exeter, had 
a new and terrible sort of sign-posts and signs, — gibbets, and 
heads and quarters of its slaughtered inhabitants." Many 
were sold as slaves in the American colonies and in the West 
Indies. 

Questions. — "What declarations and promises were made by 
James II. at his accession ? — Describe the acts of the king which 
falsified these promises. — By what illegal acts did he raise his reve- 
nue ? — For what purpose did parliament vote money ? — Give an 
account of Argyle's invasion. — In what did it result? — Mention 
James' conduct towards some of the prisoners who fell into his 
hands. — Relate the history of Monmouth's rebellion. — Describe 
some of its fearful consequences. — Mention the atrocities of Judge 
Jeffries. 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 

THE LAST YEARS OF THE REIGN OP JAMES II. 

EFFORTS OF THE KING TO RESTORE ROMANISM — THE NATION'S RESISTANCE 
REVOLUTION — WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 

Having suppressed rebellion, James proceeded to execute 
his favorite design, — that of restoring the Roman Catholic 
religion to England. In defiance of the Test Act, a law 
which had been passed in the previous reign, forbidding 
all public employments to those who were not members of the 
Established Church, he filled the army with Roman Catholic 
soldiers and officers, asserting the right to suspend or entirely 
dispense with all laws, or acts of parliament whatsoever. In 



284 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Ireland, arms were taken from the Protestants, whilst the 
Roman Catholics were allowed to possess them. 

The Irish Romanists were not likely to use with modera- 
tion, the power thus given them over enemies of another race 
and faith, who for more than five hundred years had been the 
triumphant oppressors of their country. 

In 1687, on the 4th of April, the king published a -'Decla- 
raration of Indulgence," which granted toleration for religious 
worship to all Christian bodies, Roman Catholics and Dis- 
senters alike. The people of England saw through James' 
design in this act. They knew it was only passed to favor 
his own religion, until he should obtain sufficient power to 
establish it in the land, without toleration for other modes of 
faith. The great body of the Dissenters, therefore, refused to 
acknowledge the power of the king to grant this Indulgence, 
although it would release them from long years of banish- 
ment, imprisonment, and disgrace. Among those who refused 
were Baxter, Howe, and Bunyan. They united with the 
church of England in opposing the Declaration. 

James, having introduced into his court and army a goodly 
number of Roman Catholics, proceeded to impose such upon 
.the universities and public schools. Oxford and Cambridge 
had ever shown themselves loyal, but they resisted this un- 
precedented invasion of their privileges, and although James 
forced upon Magdalen College, at Oxford, a Romish master, 
it was only after a manful and noble resistance on the part 
of that ancient and wealthy institution. 

On the 27th of April, 1688, James commanded the Decla- 
ration of Indulgence to be read in all the churches. There 
were over ten thousand clergy in the Established Church. 
Of this number, two hundred alone complied with the royal 
command. " In London, there were about one hundred 
parish churches. In only four of these was the order in 
council obeyed. At St. Gregory's the Declaration was read by 
a divine of the name of Martin. No sooner had he uttered 
the first words, than the whole congregation rose and with- 
drew/' Samuel Wesley, the father of John and Charles 



JAMBS II. 285 

Wesley, a curate in London, took for his text that day the 
noble answer of the three Jews to the Chaldean tyrant : " Be 
it known unto thee, king, that we will not serve thy gods, 
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." 

The archbishop of Canterbury (Sancroft) and six other 
bishops drew up a petition to the king, affirming that they 
did not refuse the Declaration u from any want of duty and 
obedience to his majesty, nor yet from any want of tender- 
ness to dissenters," but because it claimed a power which 
parliament had declared illegal, and the king had no right to 
do away with the laws passed by that body, without its con- 
sent. The primate and the bishops were thrown into the 
Tower, and brought to trial on the charge of seditious libel. 

On the way to and from their prison to Westminster Hall, 
they were greeted with the greatest enthusiasm. The 
banks of the Thames were lined with people, who fell 
on their knees, imploring the blessing of the stout-hearted 
prelates, and even the dissenters sent ministers to condole 
with, and encourage them. The jury who sat on the bishops' 
trial was a packed jury : that is, men were selected who were 
more likely to condemn than to acquit the prisoners. But 
even this jury and the subservient judges dared not withstand 
the strong feeling of the whole nation. 

The trial, which took place on the 29th of June, lasted 
throughout the entire day. All night the jury considered 
the verdict. At 9 o'clock the next morning the court re- 
opened, and a verdict of " not guilty" was rendered. " Then 
there arose a loud huzza from the noblemen, gentlemen, and 
people within the court, which anon was echoed back by a 
louder huzza from those without, which sounded like a crack 
of the ancient roof of Westminster Hall, and which was 
passed on from group to group, to Temple Bar, and unto the 
heart of the city. There was a lane of people to the water- 
side, all on their knees as the bishops passed and repassed, 
to beg their blessing. The delivered prelates bade them fear 
God and honor the king/' 

James was at Hounslow Heath, reviewing the army, when 



286 HISTORY QP ENGLAND. 

the shouts from the city, echoed back by those from the 
camp, fell upon his ear. On asking the meaning of it, he 
was told it " was nothing but the soldiers shouting, because 
of the acquittal of the Bishops." " Call you that nothing ?" 
said the king; and very good reason had James to fear that it 
was no insignificant outburst of popular feeling. At night 
the city blazed with bonfires, and the Pope was burned in 
effigy before the palace. Notwithstanding the excitement 
of the mob, but a single life was lost, that of a parish 
beadle, who was shot by the servants of a Roman Catholic 
nobleman. 

Meanwhile the birth of a royal heir had been announced. 
This event took place on Trinity Sunday, the 10th of June. 
It was hailed with rejoicing by the king, but produced great 
anxiety and depression among the Protestant portion of the 
nation. Many declared, that the new-born infant was not 
the offspring of the king and queen, but a child imposed 
upon the people, to secure the succession of a Roman Catholic 
and Stuart dynasty. 

The court issued orders for the observance of a day of 
national thanksgiving, and shortly after, the order in council 
went forth, for inserting the name of the Prince of Wales in 
the Book of Common Prayer. But the incredulity and antipa- 
thy of the Protestants were not easily overcome. They were 
ready to interpret the most accidental circumstances as signs 
of ill-omen. The night of the celebration for the birth of the 
young prince, was black and gloomy, and the fire-worKs 
proved a complete failure. This was declared by the popu- 
lace to be a clear token of the anger of the Almighty at the 
imposition practised by the Stuart king towards the Protest- 
ant heirs of the throne. 

And now the nation resolved to turn for deliverance to 
William, Prince of Orange, who had married the Princess 
Mary, the eldest daughter of James. 

In the old manor-house, known as Lady Place, situated 
in Berkshire, in a romantic valley on the banks of the 
Thames, the party met who planned the revolution of 



JAMES II. 287 

1688. There, papers were drawn up, and signed by many of 
the influential men of the kingdom, inviting William of 
Orange to take the throne. 

In August, William collected a large army and fleet, but 
with so much secrecy that it was the middle of September 
before James became aware of his danger. Then he sought 
by fair promises to win back the hearts of his people ; but, 
while restoring Protestants to their lost honors and offices, 
he had his infant son, James Francis Edward, baptized 
according to the rites of the Roman church; the Pope, in 
the person of his nuncio, standing as godfather. This action 
spoke louder than any words, and James strove in vain to 
recover the confidence of the nation. 

On the 5th November, the anniversary of the Gunpowder 
Plot, William landed at Torbay. In the meanwhile, James 7 
courtiers were deserting him daily. The Prince of Denmark 
supped with him one night, and the next morning went over 
to the Prince of Orange. His wife (James' second daughter, 
Anne), influenced by the fascinating Lady Churchill, followed 
her husband's example. James, when he heard it, exclaimed 
with tears : " Grod help me ! my very children have forsaken 
me." 

By this time the country was all in arms for William, and 
James saw there was nothing left for him but flight. On a 
cold December night the queen fled, with her infant, across 
the Thames, " lighted on her doleful way by the burning of 
Popish chapels." Thence she escaped to the seashore, and 
was conveyed in a yacht to Calais. The king followed, but 
was discovered and brought back. The populace, although 
they destroyed the property of Roman Catholics, committed 
no murders. Even when Jeffries was detected, disguised as 
a sailor, he was not left in their hands, although the mob 
followed the carriage which conveyed him to the Tower, 
with shouts of rage. 

James was conveyed to Rochester, whence he made a 
second and more successful escape. His flight could not but 
be a great relief to William, and no vigilance was used to 



288 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

prevent it. On Christmas Day, he landed at the fishing 
village of Ambleteuse, on the opposite shore of the Channel, 
and proceeded with but little delay to the court of the French 
king. 

Questions. — Describe the conduct of King James with regard to 
religion. — What extravagant claim did he assert ? — Relate his con- 
duct towards the inhabitants of Ireland. — Describe his treatment 
of the universities. — What declaration was passed by the king in 
April, 1687 ? — How was it regarded by the Dissenters ? — Describe 
their action on this occasion. — Relate in this connection the conduct 
of the clergy of the Established Church. — Describe the petition of 
the seven bishops. — What treatment did they experience in conse- 
quence ? — Relate the history of their trial, and state its result. — 
Describe the king's emotion on receiving the intelligence. 

What event hastened the downfall of the king ? — To whom did the 
nation turn for deliverance ? — In what manner was he invited into 
the kingdom ? — Describe James' conduct when made aware of his 
danger. — Relate the success which attended William's invasion. — 
Describe the escape of the queen. — What befell James ? — Describe 
the conduct, of the populace. — Mention James' second attempt at 
escape. — State the result. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE REIGN OF WILLIAM III. 

SETTLEMENT OP THE CROWN — CHARACTER OF THE KING — RESISTANCE 
IN SCOTLAND— IN IRELAND — SIEGE OP LONDONDERRY — WILLIAM'S VIC- 
TORIES. 

After the flight of James, a convention met, declared the 

throne vacant, and invited William and Mary, ^rince and 

Princess of Orange, to fill it. A member of this convention 

remarked : " I have heard that the king has his 
X689. _...,, ° 

divine right ; but we, the people, have a divine right 

too." In settling the crown on the new king, the rights of 

the people were -better defined than they had ever been before. 



WILLIAM III. 289 

The power of the sovereign was limited by the constitution, or 
the laws which were to govern the kingdom. In the reign 
of William III., England became a constitutional limited 
monarchy j under which form of government she has risen to 
a proud eminence of national greatness and prosperity. 

Some were for giving William the throne in right of his 
wife, the Princess Mary, she being the daughter of James. 
But the prince declined taking any part in the government, 
unless the authority were put in his own hands. "If you 
think fit to settle it otherwise," he said, " I will not oppose 
you, but will go back to Holland, and meddle no more in 
your affairs." The full exercise of the regal power was finally 
put into the hands of William, and in February, 1689, the 
Prince and Princess of Orange were proclaimed king and 
queen of England. 

The primate and seven bishops, and about four hundred 
of the clergy, refused to take the oath of allegiance to Wil- 
liam. They received the name of non-jurors, were ejected 
from their sees and livings, but not otherwise persecuted. 
Parliament granted the king a yearly revenue of one million 
two hundred thousand pounds, half of which was to defray 
the expenses of the royal household and of certain civil 
offices. This was called the Civil List. The remainder was 
to be appropriated in defence of the kingdom. Parliament 
required, moreover, that there should be laid before it, -an 
estimate of the expenditure of the army and navy. The 
requisite appropriations being then made, it was carefully 
looked to, that the sums voted for these purposes should be 
employed in no other way. This account, demanded by the 
Commons, for the proper application of supplies, proved an 
important check to extravagance, in which English monarchs 
had formerly indulged. 

In matters of religion, the monarch was inclined to a gene- 
rous toleration. When a committee presented him with the 
Scotch coronation oath, William stopped at the clause which 
required him to "root out all heretics, &c," and said to the 
commissioners : " I will not oblige myself to become a per- 
25 T 



290 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

secutor." After strenuous efforts, William prevailed upon 
parliament to pass a bill allowing free toleration to all Christ- 
ians, excepting Roman Catholics. The king would fain have 
included them, but, in the temper of the nation, it was 
impossible. 

In Scotland, the chiefs of many of the wild Highland clans 
declared for James II. Their leader was Graham, of Claver- 
house, whom James had created Viscount Dundee. They 
hated Argyle and the Lowland lords who had submitted to 
William. A body of these fierce Highlanders, commanded 
by Dundee, met their foes in a mountain defile of the Gram- 
pians, known as the pass of Killiecrankie. The Lowlanders 
fled before the fierce onset of the Celtic clans, but the latter 
gained the victory only with the loss of their leader. It was 
a Highland tradition that Dundee bore a charmed life, which 
could not be taken by bullet of lead or iron. A Lowland 
soldier, aware of this, tore a silver button from his coat, and, 
putting it into his musket, fed a shot, which pierced Dundee 
to the heart. 

Notwithstanding this victory, the cause of James was lost, 
and, by the end of the year, all opposition in Scotland to 
William's government seems to have ceased. 

In the meanwhile, the Roman Catholics of Ireland were 
loud in their protestations of loyalty to the fugitive King 
James. The Irish peasantry rose against the hated English 
and Protestant settlers. In every county, they burned, 
robbed, and pillaged. No dwelling of an Englishman or 
Protestant was safe from the attacks of the wild Irish Rappa- 
rees : in one mansion, which had contained three thousand 
pounds worth of plate, not even a single silver spoon was left. 
The cattle, of which the English owned large herds, were 
stolen and butchered with savage cruelty. Many of the most 
beautiful districts of Ireland appeared as though war, pesti- 
lence, and famine had successively passed over them. Large 
numbers of the English fled across the Channel, and but two 
strongholds in the province of Ulster, Enniskillen and Lon- 
donderry, remained to them. 



WILLIAM III. 291 

In March, James, having received assistance from the 
French monarch, landed in Ireland. On leaving the court 
of France, Louis XIV. bade him farewell, saying: "The best 
wish I can give you is, that I may never see you again/' 
James was received in Ireland with enthusiasm: was wel- 
comed with Te Deums in Dublin, and proceeded forthwith to 
attempt the recovery of Ulster. In the previous year, twelve 
hundred men had appeared before the gates of Londonderry, 
and demanded admittance. Nine Protestant youths rushed 
out of the city, raised the drawbridge, and shut the gates in 
the very face of the army of King James. Ammunition was 
collected, the walls manned, and " there, at length, on the 
verge of the ocean, hunted to the last asylum, and baited in a 
mood in which men may be destroyed, but will not easily be 
subjugated, the imperial race turned desperately to bay/'* 

Finding their governor, Colonel Luncly, in correspondence 
with the enemy, they drove him from the town, and this 
memorable defence was conducted by the wise and spirited 
counsels of a Presbyterian minister, named Walker. James 
appeared in person before Londonderry, but departed at the 
end of a few days, leaving the command in the hands of 
General Rosen, who prosecuted the siege with merciless seve- 
rity. When it had lasted nearly two months, English ships 
appeared in the harbor of Lough Foyle, but more than six 
weeks passed before they could surmount the obstructions in 
the bay, and effect a landing. 

At length, at sunset on the 30th of July, three vessels were 
descried approaching the town. The great boom, which had 
so long hindered their coming, had been destroyed, and, by 
ten o'clock, the famine-stricken defenders of Londonderry 
welcomed their deliverers. The population had been reduced 
from seven thousand to three thousand, during this fearful 
siege, and lean and ghastly were the figures of the remnant 
which famine had spared, to witness the delivery of the 
devoted city. 

* Macaulay. 



292 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

On the same day with the relief of Londonderry, the 
Protestants of Enniskillen had sallied from the town, and 
meeting a detachment of James' army at Newton Butler, 
had defeated them, with a loss to the latter of twenty-five 
hundred men. 

William sent an army, under the Baron Schomberg, into 
Ireland, and, in June, 1690, he went thither himself. He 
landed at Carrickfergus, and ; advancing towards Dublin, met 
James on the banks of the river Boyne. On the 30th of 
June, the armies lay encamped on opposite sides of the river, 
near the spot where now stands Slane Castle. On the morning 
of this day, as William rode along his lines, a ball, fired by 
the enemy, slightly grazed his shoulder. He stooped in his 
saddle for a moment, and this action gave the impression, in 
the army of King James, that he was killed. The news was 
immediately sent to Dublin, thence to Paris, and from Paris 
to Rome. 

On the 1st of July, William, with his Dutch and English 
army, dashed across the river in the face of the enemy. 
James fled towards Dublin soon after the conflict began, and 
his Irish troops, although fighting bravely, were beaten in 
every quarter. Louis XIV. saw again the face of the fugitive 
English king. The brave veteran, Baron Schomberg, and 
the Presbyterian minister who had defended Londonderry, 
perished in this battle. Walker's late career had given him 
such a taste for war, that, although created bishop of Deny, 
he preferred remaining in the army to returning to the duties 
of his sacred office. When it was told the king that the 
bishop of Derry had been killed by a shot at the ford, 
William laconically replied : "What business had the minister 
there ?" 

On the 6th July, William returned thanks in the cathedral 
church at Dublin for the victory of the Boyne. Other im- 
portant towns soon surrendered, but Limerick, defended by 
native Irish, held out so bravely that the king was compelled 
to raise the siege. In September, he went back to England. 
In the following year, Limerick surrendered to William's 



WILLIAM III. 293 

generals, and was admitted to honorable terms. The 

1691* 

king endeavored, as much as possible, to check the 
spirit of retaliation, to secure to the Irish the exercise of 
their religion, and to prevent the indiscriminate confiscation 
of their property. 

Questions. — What followed the flight of the king? — What im- 
portant suggestion was made in the convention? — How was this 
idea carried out? — What did England become in this reign? — On 
what terms only did William consent to assume the crown ? — De- 
scribe the conduct of a portion of the clergy. — What in consequence 
became their position ? — Mention the course adopted with regard to 
the king's revenue. — Describe William's disposition towards the 
religious parties in the kingdom. — Who were excluded from the bill 
of toleration ? 

Describe the party which still held for James in Scotland. — Give 
an account of the battle of Killiecrankie. — Relate the anecdote of 
Dundee. — Which cause finally triumphed ? — Describe the position 
of the Protestant population in Ireland at this time. — What strong- 
holds alone remained to them? — By what means was James II. 
enabled to invade Ireland ? — How was he received there ? — Give 
some particulars of the defence and siege. — Relate the final suc- 
cess. — Describe William's operations in Ireland. — Give an account 
of the battle of the Boyne. — What followed the victory ? — What is 
related of the siege of Limerick ? — What disposition was shown by 
the king on the occasion of its surrender ? 



CHAPTER L. 

THE LAST TEN YEARS OF THE REIGN OF WILLIAM III. 

GLENCOE — FOREIGN WARS — DEATH OF QUEEN MARY — HER CHARACTER — 
WILLIAM ABROAD — ACT OF SUCCESSION — LOUIS XIV. — WILLIAM'S DEATH. 

In the year 1692, an event occurred in Scotland, which 

proves that traces of barbarism were yet to be found amid the 

light and civilization of the seventeenth century. After the 

battle of Killiecrankie ; there was no formidable opposition to 

25* 



294 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

\ 

the new government in Scotland, although a few Highland 
clans still held out. 

A proclamation was made, offering pardon to- all who before 
a certain day should take the oath of allegiance. One 
169*3 ' k°ld chieftain, Macdonald of Glencoe, held out for a 
long time, but at last repaired to Fort William, to 
make his submission. There was no officer at that post, com- 
petent to administer the oath, and when the old chieftain, 
after a toilsome winter's journey, reached Inverary, the last 
day appointed for the reception of the oath had passed. He 
was allowed to take it, however, and, trusting in this security, 
Macdonald returned to his wild Highland valley near the 
banks of Loch Lomond, and to the midst of his devoted 
clansmen. 

Meanwhile, Lord Breadalbane, Argyle, and other personal 
enemies of Glencoe, by a false statement, obtained from King 
William permission to exterminate this Highland clan, as a 
band of thieves and rebels. In February, a party of Argyle's 
soldiers visited the glen, and were received with unsuspecting 
hospitality. For twelve days they ate the food and slept in 
the cottages of the clansmen of Glencoe. Ere day-dawn on 
the morning of the thirteenth day, the rocks and streams of 
the mountain valley were stained with the blood of the unsus- 
pecting hosts. Many were murdered in sleep, others? fled, 
but were buried beneath snow-drifts, or died of starvation. 
Rightly was the spot named Glencoe, "the glen of weeping." 

William, throughout his life, maintained a warm affection 

for his native country, and a watchful care over its interests. 

1690 These interests, as well as those of England, and 

to every country in Europe, were threatened by the 
ambition of Louis XIV. of France. To check the 
power of this monarch, a league was formed against him by 
England, Holland,- Germany, Austria, and Spain, at the head 
of which was placed William of Orange. The pursuance of 
this life-long design to crush the power of Louis XIV. obliged 
the English king to spend a large portion of many successive 
years on the continent. 



WILLIAM III. 295 

In 1692, Louis, taking advantage of William's absence, 
furnished James II. with a fleet and army for the invasion of 
England. On the 22d of May, off Cape La Hogue, a brilliant 
action took place between the English and French fleets. 
On the heights above La Hogue, the Stuart king, with his 
large army of invasion, beheld the destruction of the ships by 
the aid of which he had hoped to recover his throne. The 
fallen monarch watched the action with intense interest. For 
one moment his natural pride in the navy of England made 
him forget how fatal now was its prowess, and he exclaimed : 
" See my brave English sailors !" It was but a momentary 
exultation. Shortly after, he beheld the utter destruction 
of the French fleet, and sadly exclaiming, " Heaven fights 
against me," he returned to the court of the French king. 

In 1694, shortly after William's return from a successful 
campaign on the continent, he met with a severe aflliction in 
the death of his queen, to whom he was tenderly attached. 
Mary's character was very lovely. Her charities were warm 
and liberal, and she had a great aversion to calumny and evil 
speaking. In remarking that the most violent enemies of the 
government had never spoken of her with harshness, she said : 
" G-od knew where her weakness lay. She was too sensitive 
to abuse and calumny ; He had mercifully spared her a trial 
which was beyond her strength ; and the best return which 
she could make to Him, was to discountenance all malicious 
reflections on the character of others." 

Mary had a very effective yet graceful way of doing this. 
Often she would quietly ask the tattler, who was about to open 
her budget of news, concerning elopements, duels, &c, &c, 
whether she had ever read her favorite sermon, Dr. Tillotson's 
on Evil Speaking. 

In the year 1697, France, exhausted by long years of 
expensive warfare, consented to terms of peace. In Septem- 
ber, the treaty of Ryswick was signed, by which Louis XIV. 
acknowledged the Prince of Orange as king of England, and 
promised to abandon the cause of the house of Stuart. 

Whilst in Holland, William met with one, his equal in 



296 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

wisdom, who was destined to become the founder of a mighty- 
empire. This was Peter the Great of Russia. The English 
king found him, not surrounded by the pomp of a great 
sovereign, but in the humble guise of a ship-carpenter, work- 
ing in the dockyards of Holland ) his mind eagerly grasping 
those improvements which, applied by his genius, were to 
raise his barbarous country to a high and powerful rank 
among the nations of the earth. The Czar visited England, 
and was well received by William. 

In the year 1701, parliament passed an Act of Succession, 
by which the crown of England was secured to the Princess 
Anne (Queen Mary's sister), and to her descendants. Should 
she die, leaving no children, v it was to go to the Protestant 
Electress Sophia, and her descendants. This lady was a 
granddaughter of James I., being the child of his daughter 
Elizabeth, who had married the Elector Palatine. The 
Stuarts Were all excluded. 

In the same year died at the palace of St. Germains, King 

James II. Louis XIV., notwithstanding the treaty of Rys- 

wick, immediately proclaimed the deceased monarch's eldest 

son king of England, by the title of James III. 

1701. . . . J 

Louis's ambition moreover led him to place his grand- 
son on the throne of Spain. These events induced another 
formidable alliance of the nations of Europe, against the 
schemes of the aspiring monarch. 

But King William, the soul of the alliance, was not per- 
mitted to take an active part in it. In early manhood he had 
had a severe attack of small-pox. This disease had under- 
mined his constitution, and the subsequent years of his life 
were marked by painful suffering. This consideration greatly 
enhances the untiring activity and fidelity displayed by this 
monarch in the discharge of his great and varied responsibili- 
ties. A fall from his horse, in February of 1702, caused an 
inflammation of the lungs, which hastened his death. One 
of his last acts was a message urging his parliament to take 
measures for the union of England and Scotland. A few days 
later, Lord Albemarle arrived with good news from Holland, 



ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 297 

but the interests of this world were no longer uppermost in 
the mind of the king. " I draw near my end," were the 
words he addressed to the nobleman; and at eight o'clock the 
following morning, Sunday, 8th of March, 1702, he breathed 
his last. 

Questions. — Relate the history of the massacre of Glencoe. — 
Mention the circumstances which led William to engage in foreign 
wars. — Give an account of the battle of La Hogue. — What domestic 
affliction befell William in 1694? — Relate the account given of the 
character of the queen. — Describe the way in which she was wont to 
rebuke evil speaking. 

Mention the treaty concluded in 1697. — What were the terms of 
it ? — Repeat what is told of Peter the Great. — Describe the act of 
parliament passed in 1701. — When and where did James II. die ? — 
What was the conduct of the French king on this occasion ? — 
Describe the suffering experienced by the king from ill health. — 
What was his last public act? — Mention his interview with one 
of his courtiers. — When did he die ? 



CHAPTER LI. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CEN- 
TURY. 

RELIGION* — THE DRAMA — POETS — MILTON — SCIENCE — ROYAL OBSERVATORY 
— GREENWICH HOSPITAL — ART — ARCHITECTURE — NEWSPAPERS — POST- 
- OFFICES* 

One of the most important events in the history of religion, 
during this century, was the translation of the present standard 
edition of the English Bible. In the year 1606, by the order 
of King James I., forty-seven of the most learned divines of 
the universities assembled at Oxford, Cambridge, and West- 
minster, for this great work. They were separated into six 
divisions or companies, and a certain portion of Scripture 
given to each. Each member of a division translated the 
assigned portion, and when all had finished, they met, to read 



298 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

and compare their translations, and decide upon the best. 
When all the divisions had finished their separate portions, 
the whole forty-seven assembled. Then the entire new ver- 
sion was read. Each disputed point was discussed, and no 
portion adopted until the combined wisdom of these learned 
and good men had consented to it. Thus, in God's good 
Providence, was given, both in the single-minded sincerity 
and in the learning and piety of the translators, the best 
security we could ask, for the correct translation of His Holy 
Word. 

Those Protestants, who, refusing conformity to the church 
of England, had hitherto been generally known as Puritans, 
became, in the course of this century, established in distinct 
societies, under various denominations. There were Presby- 
terians, Independents, Baptists, and Quakers or Friends. 
These sects differed as much from each other as they all did 
from the church of England. The Independents alone held 
the doctrine of toleration, and during Cromwell's administra- 
tion there was perhaps less persecution than at any other 
period in the century. 

When the Long Parliament triumphed, an assembly of 
Presbyterian divines met at Westminster, and there prepared 
a Confession of Faith, a Directory for Public Worship, and 
the Longer and Shorter Catechism, still in use among that 
denomination of Christians. During the ascendency of this 
parliament, many of the clergy of the church of England 
were turned out of their livings, and suffered more or less 
severe persecutions. 

Jeremy Taylor, being driven from his living in Uppingham, 
withdrew to a mountain district of Wales, and supported him- 
self by teaching, whilst writing " Holy Living" and other 
works, which have proved valuable contributions to sacred 
literature. The learned Archbishop Usher, although tolerant 
in his own views, was among those who suffered at this time. 
Nor were these persecutions confined to members of the 
church of England. 

It was during the triumph of the Long Parliament, that 



ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 299 

the Independent (afterwards the Baptist) Roger Williams fled 
from his own country, to found a non-persecuting church in 
the wilds of America. He learned, alas ! that the spirit of 
intolerance reigued in New England as triumphantly as in 
the mother country. Driven from Massachusetts by the 
same causes which had induced him to leave England, he 
fled to Rhode Island, and there founded a religious society, in 
which was preached and practised the new doctrine, that men 
should not be persecuted for any religious belief. 

At the Restoration, when the English church was again 
established, the dissenters in their turn suffered the loss of 
houses and lands. About two thousand ministers of religion 
were driven from their livings, or resigned them, rather than 
comply with the Act of Uniformity. 

The'last burning of heretics in England took place in the 
year 1612, shortly after which a law was passed, abolishing 
the cruel practice. But though heretics no longer suffered 
this dreadful death, the faggot was again lighted for the 
burning of witches. 

For several years the belief in witchcraft spread over 
Europe, and many innocent men, women, and children, suf- 
fered at the stake, on the charge of beiDg in league with the 
evil one. Between the years 1640 and 1660, some three or 
four thousand victims in Europe fell a sacrifice to this terrible 
delusion. 

Meanwhile, the spirit of persecution "had driven thousands 
of those honest, diligent, and G-od-fearing yeomen, who are 
the strength of a nation, to seek a refuge beyond the ocean, 
among the wigwams of red Indians and the lairs of panthers."* 
In America was found " ample room and verge enough" for 
the persecuted of every creed. To the churchman, the cava- 
lier, and the courtier, Virginia opened its loyal arms. To the 
hunted Covenanter and Cameronian, the Jerseys offered a 
secure and happy shelter. The peace-loving Quaker founded 
amid the forests of Pennsylvania, his city of brotherly love, 

* Macaulay. 



300 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

while New England received the comers of every sect, who 
found at least one home of toleration on the shores of Narra- 
gansett Bay. Another was provided before the century closed. 
The noble-minded Roman Catholic, Lord Baltimore, founded 
on Chesapeake Bay a colony which grew and nourished under 
the kindly influences of liberty of conscience. 

Early in the seventeenth century the old miracle plays and 
allegories began to give place to the more natural and finished 
performances of the drama. There were many writers of plays, 
but the master mind of Shakspeare has shed a glory over this 
and every age, in the splendor of which, the writings of lesser 
dramatists are quite forgotten. Shakspeare was born at Strat- 
ford on the Avon, in the year 1564. At an early age he 
married Ann Hathaway, a farmer's daughter, and went to 
London, where he became the partial proprietor of the Globe 
and Blackfriars Theatres. He wrote the greater number of 
his plays during the early part of the reign of James I. The 
closing years of his life were passed in New Place, at Strat- 
ford, the home of his childhood. He died in 1616, two years 
before the birth of Milton, and was buried in the parish 
church of his native town. 

As in the early part of this century the cotemporary drama- 
tists of Shakspeare — Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, &c. — 
although writers of no mean merit, are eclipsed by the supe- 
riority of their great master, so in the middle and close of the 
century, the fame of the poets Waller, Cowley, Dryclen, Her- 
bert, Marvell, and others, is lost in that of the author of 
" Paradise Lost" — the Puritan poet, John Milton. The poem 
which has rendered his name immortal was given to the world 
when he was old and blind. 

Nor must we omit another priceless legacy, which the 
seventeenth century bequeathed to the hearts and minds of 
succeeding generations. " The Pilgrim's Progress," written 
by John Bunyan, the poor tinker of Bedford, when he lay, 
" persecuted for conscience' sake," a prisoner in Bedford gaol. 
The writings of Jeremy Taylor, the quaint Fuller, Archbishop 
Leigh ton, Bishops Burnett, Stillingfleet, Tillotson, and South, 



ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 301 

and the Presbyterians Baxter and Howe, rank high among 
the valuable contributions to sacred and secular literature 
which the seventeenth century produced. One of the poets- 
laureate in the reign of King William, was Tate, the author 
of the well-known Christmas hymn : 

"While shepherds watched their flocks by night." 

King Charles II. founded the Royal Society for the pro- 
motion of science. To this noble institution, which brought 
together the learned and scientific men from all parts of the # 
kingdom, is owing the great progress made in science at the 
close of this, and during the succeeding period. In 1619, 
Dr. William Harvey published his discovery of the circulation 
of the blood through the arteries and veins of the human 
body. So general was the ignorance of physiology at this 
time, that the discovery was ridiculed even by men of intelli- 
gence, and it is said that when first published it was received 
by scarcely one " medical man who had passed his fortieth 
year." 

The grand discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton gave a new 
impulse to science. The study of the stars was facilitated 
by the improvements in telescopes ; the vagaries and dreams 
of astrology were rapidly displaced, and the heavens made to 
" declare the glory of Grod," by the wonderful and brilliant 
discoveries in the noble science of astronomy. For the pro- 
motion of this science, and that of navigation, Charles II. 
founded, at Greenwich, in 1676, the Eoyal Observatory. 
The first astronomers royal, John Flamsteed and Edmund 
Halley, who held the office successively, from 1676 to 1742, 
are distinguished for their valuable contributions to the cause 
of science. During the erection of the observatory, Halley, 
in the distant island of St. Helena, was engaged in mapping 
the constellations of the southern hemisphere. He was the 
first astronomer to predict the return of a comet. He saw 
the one since known by his name, whilst at Paris, in Decem- 
ber, 1680. He calculated its reappearance in the years 1758 
and 1835. which actually occurred. 
26 



302 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

At Greenwich, Charles II. had commenced the building 
of a beautiful palace, surrounded by terraced grounds, and 
ornamented with shade trees. After the battle of La Hogue, 
Queen Mary saw maimed and wounded sailors brought home, 
with no fitting hospital for their reception. She formed the 
noble design of converting the palace of Greenwich into an 
asylum for disabled seamen. After her death, William erected 
on the spot which she had chosen, Greenwich Hospital, a 
beautiful monument to the virtues of the gentle queen. 
• The Stuart kings, especially Charles I. and II., were patrons 
of the fine arts. In their reigns, the great Dutch painters, 
Van Dyke and Rubens, were invited into England. By the 
exertions of the latter, the celebrated Cartoons of Raphael 
were purchased at Brussels for Charles I. These pictures, 
of which seven only are preserved, represent subjects taken 
chiefly from the Acts of the Apostles. They are called 
Cartoons from the name of the material, a species of paste- 
board, on which they are painted. Rubens came into Eng- 
land not as an artist, but as an ambassador from the king of 
Spain. He left behind him, on the beautiful ceiling of the 
banqueting house at Whitehall, a noble specimen of his 
genius as a painter. 

In many of the palaces, and some of the churches of Eng- 
land, are to be found exquisite wood carvings, the work of 
Grinling Gibbons, a celebrated sculptor, who wrought birds, 
fruits, and flowers, in wood, with a delicacy and perfection 
that almost equals the productions of nature. 

Many galleries of art contained not only fine paintings, but 
collections of gems and antiquities. In the gallery of the 
Earl of Arundel were placed the statues, busts, gems, and 
monuments brought from Greece by that nobleman in 1610, 
and generally known as the Arundelian Marbles. 

In the early part of this period flourished Inigo Jones, who 
introduced the Italian style of architecture into England. 
He built the beautiful banqueting house at Whitehall But 
the most famous architect of this age was Sir Christopher 
Wren. After the great fire which in the year 1666 laid in 



ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 303 

ruins two-thirds of the city of London, the genius of Wren 
was employed in the work of restoration. His greatest monu- 
ment is the magnificent cathedral of St. Paul's, which he 
rebuilt from its foundation, accomplishing the work in thirty- 
five years. In London alone, fifty-one churches were erected 
from his designs. Among these, St. Stephen's, "VValbrook, 
said to be a beautiful copy in miniature of St. Peter's at 
Rome, has long been celebrated for its graceful proportions 
and exquisite finish. The Royal Hospitals at Greenwich and 
Chelsea, the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, and numerous other 
works, remain noble and enduring monuments of the genius 
of the great architect. 

The national anthem, "God save the King," was composed, 
and first sung in the reign of James II. 

The first English newspaper was printed during the session 
of the Long Parliament, in the year 1641. It was entitled 
" The Diurnal Occurrences or Daily Proceedings of Both 
Houses in this Great and Happy Parliament, from the 3d 
November, 1610, to the 3d of November, 1641." Between 
this date and that of 1695, there were a number of news- 
letters printed, but after the Restoration so many restraints 
were put upon the liberty of the press, that there could be 
but few free and independent publications. On the 3d of 
May, in the year 1695, these restraints were removed. The 
law which had been made for the censorship of the press 
expired at that date, and was not renewed. No sooner was 
the press rendered free by this circumstance, than there 
followed the publication of a host of newspapers. There 
was " The Packet Boat from Holland and Flanders," " The 
Pegasus," "The Flying Post," "The Old Postmaster," 
"The Postboy," and "The Postman." They were printed 
on coarse and dingy paper, and were so small that the entire 
sheet would not contain as much reading-matter as is now 
to be found in a single column of one of the larger daily 
newspapers. 

The first regular post-oflice was established in 1635, for 



304 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the more speedy transmission of news between England and 
Scotland. 

Questions. — Name the most important event connected with the 
history of religion in this century. — Describe the plan on which the 
work was accomplished. — Mention the names of the various classes 
of dissenters existing at this time. — What is remarked of the Inde- 
pendents ? — Describe the acts of the Westminster Assembly. — What 
portion of the nation suffered during the power of the Long Parlia- 
ment? — Give the account of Roger Williams. — Describe the condi- 
tion of dissenters after the Restoration. — Give some account of the 
burnings for witchcraft in this century. — Mention the colonies in 
America to which the various classes of the persecuted fled. 

Relate the account given of Shakspeare. — Name some of the poets 
of this age. — Under what circumstances was Milton's most cele- 
brated poem written ? — What other distinguished work was the pro- 
duction of this century ? — Name other authors of this age. — What 
institution was founded by Charles II.? — What benefits did this 
foundation confer on science? — What discovery was made by Harvey 
in 1619? — What improvements took place in astronomy at this 
time? — Where, by whom, and for what purpose, was the Royal 
Observatory founded ? — Name the first astronomers royal. — Relate 
the circumstances connected with the founding of Greenwich Hos- 
pital. 

Name some celebrated painters who flourished in this age. — 
Describe the Cartoons. — What work of Rubens's art remains ? — 
Describe the work of Gibbons the sculptor. — Name the collections 
of antiquities made during this period. — In what work was Wren 
employed ? — What mention is made of him in connection with St. 
Paul's Cathedral ? — When was the national anthem composed ? — 
Mention the first English newspaper. — Why could not newspapers 
be independent? — When were these restrictions removed? — Describe 
the papers of that day. — When was the first post-office established? 



ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 305 



CHAPTER LII. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CEN- 
TURY. 

ROADS — CONDITION OF LONDON — COMMERCE — MANUFACTURES — BANK OF 

ENGLAND — STYLE OF LIVING — CLASSES OF SOCIETY REVENUE WHIG 

AND TORY — NATIONAL DEBT. 

In 1663, turnpikes or toll-gates were first erected, and some 
regard was paid to the improvement of the highways, which, 
however, continued to a much later period in a wretched 
condition. In many districts six horses were not sufficient to 
drag the family coach out of the sloughs and quagmires, 
which abounded in the king's highway. Bold highwaymen 
and daring robbers added to the perils of the traveller. 
Journeys were chiefly made on horseback, as the public 
conveyances were few, and subjected the traveller to much 
inconvenience. In 1669, a wonderful vehicle, described as 
" The Flying Coach," performed the entire journey between 
Oxford and London (fifty-two miles) in a single day. The 
success of this experiment gave rise to the establishment 
of numerous lines of stage-coaches. 

The streets of the capital were in a sad condition : they 
were unpaved, narrow, and dirty, and one writer complains 
not only of the "ill and uneasy form of paving underfoot," 
but also of the " troublesome and malicious disposure of the 
spouts and gutters overhead" The streets moreover were 
frequented by daring cut-purses, and the scene of constant 
fights among the apprentices. Coaches, wagons, and sedan 
chairs jostled each other, and the ear was stunned by the loud 
variety of cries uttered by the venders of every kind of ware. 
The importunate seller, walking before his shop-door, cried : 
" What d'ye lack, madam?" " What d'ye lack, sir?" to every 
passer-by, telling over at the same time, as loud and fast as 
possible, a list of all the commodities in which he dealt. 
26* U 



306 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Such was shopping in the seventeenth century. Large 
painted signs, projecting into the streets, gave a gay appear- 
ance to the shops. There were " Saracen's Heads," " Red 
Lions," " Golden Lambs," " Hogs in Armor," " Swans with 
two Necks," " Spread Eagles," and others of the most gro- 
tesque character. 

At night the streets of London were more dangerous than 
by day, for they were unlighted for the most part, save by the 
torches, links, or lanterns which were carried by the few foot- 
passengers who ventured to thread their dark and narrow 
intricacies. In 1662, an act was passed obliging householders 
to hang out some description of light on the side of the house 
next the street, every night between Michaelmas and Lady 
Day, from dark until nine o'clock in the evening. The 
remainder of the year, and the rest of the night, the streets 
were left in darkness. The houses were chiefly of wood, and 
the streets so dirty, that bonfires were frequently lighted, to 
keep off disease. London was hetter built after the fire. 

We have seen how in the last century voyages were made 
to India and the East. Early in the present century the 
English merchants had established factories in India, in the 
islands of Sumatra and Java, and even in Japan. The East 
India Company fitted out large ships, which brought to Eng- 
land valuable cargoes. Tea and coffee were introduced ; they 
came, however, but slowly into general use, and were for a 
long time very expensive luxuries. The East India Company 
in 1664, wishing to present some valuable rarity to the king, 
was obliged to pay forty shillings a pound for some tea, and 
even at that price could only get two pounds two ounces. 

A gentleman writing in his diary under date of September, 
1661, says: "I sent for a cup of tea (a Chinese drink), of 
which I had never drunk before." Pepper, cloves, ginger, 
and all the East India spices were now brought into England, 
as also calico, so called from Calicut, a town in southern 
India, and various other Indian manufactures. 

In some of their quarrels with the Dutch, who were formid- 
able rivals of the English in the East India trade, the latter 



ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 307 

lost the island of Java, which has ever since remained a 
valuable possession to Holland. In 1651 the English gained 
St. Helena. A few years previously they had established 
themselves at Madras, which soon became one of their most 
important possessions in India. In 1669, the town of Bombay 
was granted to the East India Company by King Charles II , 
he haviDg received it as a part of the marriage dower of 
Queen Catherine, who was a princess of Portugal. 

The trade of England in America, Turkey, the Levant, and 
elsewhere, became so considerable in Charles II. 's reign, that 
a " Council of Commerce" was appointed to take charge of its 
extended interests. This was the origin of the Board of 
Trade. The number of whalers visiting the shores of Green- 
land and Spitsbergen increased, and whalebone was found to 
be a useful article of commerce. Hitherto the whale had 
been valued only for its oil. 

The plantation trade, or that carried on with the colonies in 
America, was daily growing more and more important. Early 
in the century, in 1607, the first permanent English colony 
was founded at Jamestown, in Virginia. In 1620, the first 
settlement in New England was made, and before the close of 
the seventeenth century, twelve of the old thirteen colonies 
had been planted on the Atlantic coast of America. The 
mother country was already beginning to reap an annual 
revenue from the productions raised in the forests of the 
New World, and at the close of the century, no less than five 
hundred vessels were employed in trade with these colonies 
and the West Indies. Some of these were engaged in the 
traffic of slaves. 

Tobacco became an article of commerce. It takes its name 
from Tabaco, a place in Yucatan, whence it was first brought. 
James I. particularly disliked this noxious weed, and wrote a 
book against it, called "The Counterblaste to Tobacco." But 
despite the king's book, and the additional duty which he 
caused to be laid upon the hateful drug, the use of tobacco 
became more and more popular. Sir Walter Raleigh was 
very fond of smoking, and introduced the custom into 



308 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

England. The first time he indulged in this practice, his 
servant, happening to enter the room with a jug of water, 
saw Sir Walter enveloped in smoke, and, very naturally, 
supposing him to be on fire, dashed the contents of the jug 
over his master's head, to save him, as he believed, from 
a, terrible death. 

The cotton manufactures of England took their rise in this 
century. Manchester is spoken of in the reign of Charles I., 
as being engaged in this important branch of industry, which, 
however, was yet in its infancy. In 1685, Louis XIV. issued 
his famous revocation of the Edict of Nantes This edict, 
for more than eighty years, had granted protection to the 
Protestants in France. That protection was now withdrawn, 
and cruel dragoons, riding into every Huguenot village, 
hunted the poor artisan or manufacturer to the death. Thou- 
sands, fleeing from this persecution in their native country, 
came to England. Among them were the silk-weavers, who 
established at Spitalfields, London, their celebrated and beau- 
tiful manufacture. 

The Dutch and Flemings who came into England, taught 
many excellent lessons of agriculture. They introduced cauli- 
flowers, cabbages, turnips, carrots, parsnips, and pease, all of 
which useful vegetables were brought from Holland in the 
early part of this century. Many of the beautiful hop-gardens 
of England were planted by the Flemings, nearly three hun- 
dred years ago. 

The Bank of England was established in King William's 
reign. Its operations began in Grocers' Hall, in 1694 Then 
fifty-four persons were employed in the transaction of its 
business. Now its employees number nine hundred In 
1695, all the clipped and base money of the kingdom was 
called in, melted down, and a new coinage struck. Sir Isaac 
Newton was appointed warden of the mint. Under his direc- 
tion nineteen mills were in operation at the Tower, and soon 
one hundred and twenty thousand pounds of silver coin were 
issued weekly from the mint The new currency, " the finest 
and most beautiful in all Europe/' came into circulation m 



ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. o09 

the year 1697. Guineas had been coined in Charles II. 's 
reign; they were so called from the country in Africa whence 
the gold was brought. 

James I. discouraged the nocking of the nobles and country 
gentlemen to court, and sent them home to cultivate their 
estates. The long retinues which had once been essential to 
the state of a noble, were no longer kept up. In the country- 
houses of the gentry great hospitality prevailed. In the 
spacious old hall of the country squire, ornamented with the 
trophies of the chase, the oaken board was spread, and bent 
beneath a generous weight of roast beef and plum pudding. 
The gentry treated their tenants to annual feasts, and among 
the farmers, sheep-shearings and harvest-homes were occasions 
of great jollity to all their dependents. 

As intercourse with India and the countries of the Levant 
became frequent, articles of luxury, both in furniture and 
dress, multiplied. Carpets continued to be used rather as 
table than floor covers ; on the floors, even of palaces, rushes 
were still strewed, or at best superseded by a covering of 
matting. Oil-cloth was first manufactured in 1680. The 
extravagance in dress which prevailed at court during the 
reigns of the Stuarts, is justly censured in a poem written by 
a Thames waterman. He says they 

"Wear a farm in shoe-strings edged "with gold, 
And spangled garters worth a copyhold; 
A hose and doublet which a lordship cost, 
A gaudy cloak, the manor's price almost; 
A beaver band and feather for the head, 
Prized at the church's tithe — the poor man's bread." 

In King William's reign, monstrous periwigs and cocked 
hats were ih vogji^ among the men, whilst the women wore 
hair-powder, high', caps, stomachers richly laced, and flowing 
skirts, looped back to display the flounces and furbelows with 
which the petticoat was adorned. The court dames and city 
ladies of this century cared far less for the improvement of 
the mind, than those noble women whose learning, virtues, 



310 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

and accomplishments adorned the court and reign of Eliza- 
beth. In fact, gross ignorance of the common rudiments of 
education prevailed amongst them. In the library of the 
Hague may be seen an English Bible, presented to the 
queen of William III. on the day of their coronation. In 
Mary's own handwriting on the title page is the following 
inscription: "This book was given the king and I at our 
crownation. Marie R." Both the manners and morals of 
the court during the reigns of Charles and James II., were 
exceedingly profligate. The coarsest and most boisterous 
places of amusement were frequented by women, who in- 
dulged in gambling and profanity. There were those of 
both sexes who, amid general corruption, preserved a dignity 
and purity of character and manners as beautiful as it was 
remarkable. 

In the time of Cromwell, a far greater degree of propriety 
prevailed, amounting almost to austerity. Plays, dances, 
merry-makings, &c, were all discountenanced. Psalm singing 
and sermons were the only recreations. To prevent the in- 
dulgence of the popular sport of bear-baiting, which was 
esteemed especially cruel and sinful, the Puritan protector 
caused all the bears to be killed. This gave rise to a 
very famous burlesque poem, called " Hudibras,," written by 
Samuel Butler, in ridicule of the Puritans. 

When, at the Restoration, the restrictions, which the as- 
cendancy of Puritanism had laid upon the nation, were 
removed, they plunged at once into the greatest excesses 
of vice and folly. Every species of amusement was restored, 
and the horse-races at Newmarket absorbed large sums of 
money. The tournament had passed away with the reign of 
James L, and we take leave of armor in that of his son and 
successor. Swords, pistols, and bayonets (the latter invented 
at Bayonne, in France, whence their name) took the place 
of spears, battle-axes, and cross-bows. Masques and pageants 
lingered a few years later than the tournament, but gradually 
disappeared, before the superiority of the regular drama. 

The condition of the people of England during this cen- 



ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 311 

tury, especially of the lower classes, was greatly improved.- 
The population in 1862 was about six millions and a half. 
At the time of the Revolution it had increased to seven 
millions. Many places, now among the largest and most 
thriving in the kingdom, were then just rising into import- 
ance, as manufacturing or commercial towns. Such were 
Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Plymouth, Hull, Liverpool, &c. 

Henry VII. had allowed the large domains of the nobility 
to be subdivided or disposed of at their will. Henry VIII. 
had apportioned among his favorites the large estates belong- 
ing to the church. Consequently there arose a class of land- 
holders second in rank, but scarcely so in power, to the 
nobility. These are the gentry of England. From them 
came most of the men distinguished in the civil wars, on the 
parliament's side. Such was Hampden; such was Oliver 
Cromwell. 

The kingly prerogative was greatly limited after the Resto- 
ration, and neither Charles nor James II. dared to supersede 
the laws by royal proclamations, as their father and grand- 
father had done. The bills for granting supplies of money 
originated exclusively in the House of Commons. After the 
Revolution they became appropriations, and an account of 
their expenditure was strictly required. At the close of 
William's reign the revenues of the crown amounted to more 
than three millions of pounds sterling. This was raised from 
the customs or duties laid on merchandise, the excise or 
taxes on various articles, and the inland duties. The money 
appointed for the support of. the king's government, and for 
the royal household, is called the Civil List. 

Before the Revolution, the terms Whig and Tory were 
applied to the parties of the king and parliament. The term 
Tory was given to the wild Irish beyond the Pale, and was 
first applied in derision to the Duke of York's friends, 
because they favored the Irish and Roman Catholics. After- 
wards it was applied to the whole party of the king, and 
after the Revolution, to all who favored the cause of the 



312 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

house of Stuart, and still later to the conservative party who 
opposed all sweeping reforms. 

The term Whig signifies in Scotland, where it originated, 
sour whey, and was given to the Puritans by their enemies 
about the year 1680. After the Revolution it was applied to 
all who opposed the house of Stuart and upheld William, 
and subsequently to all who favored thorough reforms. 

The National Debt of England began in the reign of King 
William. The government borrowed the money to support 
the great expenses of their foreign wars. 

Questions. — "What improvement took place in the roads in this 
century? — Describe the condition and appearance of the streets of 
London at this time. — Give some account of the introduction of tea 
into England. — What island was lost by the English in the East? — 
What two important settlements did they gain ? — With what other 
countries was trade carried on ? — Relate the origin of the Board of 
Trade. 

What is said of the trade with America ? — How many colonies 
were founded there ? — Whence did tobacco take its name ? — How 
did King James seek to put down the use of this drug? — Relate 
the anecdote of Sir Walter Raleigh. — What English manufacture 
took its rise in this century ? — What was the Edict of Nantes ? — 
Describe its effect upon England. — What vegetable productions were 
introduced in this century ? — What is told of tlie Bank of England ? 
— Relate what is told of the coinage in William III.'s reign. 

What change in court society took place in the reign of James I.? 
— Describe the living of the gntry in those days. — What is said of 
coverings for the floor ? — Describe the dress worn by the men and 
women of those days. — Relate what is told of the morals and man- 
ners of that age. — What change took place in the time of Cromwell? 
— Describe the effect of the Restoration upon manners and amuse- 
ments. — What towns rose into importance in this century? 

Relate the circumstances which gave rise to the gentry of Eng- 
land. — What is said of the prerogative after the Restoration? — 
Relate what is told of the supplies voted by parliament. — How was 
the royal revenue raised ? — Describe the origin and application of 
the terms Whig and Tory.— What was the origin of the National 
Debt? 



QUEEN ANNE. — GEORGE I. 313 



PART X. 

ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

QUEEN ANNE— GEORGE L— GEORGE II.— GEORGE III. 
A. D. 1702—1800. 

" What seas were traversed, and what fields were fought, 
And England's peace, how oft, how dearly bought, 
Till earth's extremes her mediation own, 
And Asia's tyrants tremble at her throne." 



CHAPTER LIIL 

QUEEN ANNE. — GEORGE I. 

FOREIGN WARS — POLITICAL PARTIES —UNION — LITERATURE — HOUSE OP 
HANOVER — THE PRETENDER— SEPTENNIAL BILL — SOUTH SEA SCHEME. 

Queen Anne was the second daughter of James II., and 
sister-in-law of the late king. Though a Stuart, she was a 
Protestant, and no opposition was made to her succes- 
sion. The war begun with Louis XIV. in the pre- 
vious reign, was carried on in this. John Churchill, Duke 
of Marlborough, the greatest general of his age, was sent to 
command the allied armies of England, Austria, and Holland, 
on the continent. 

By the splendid victories of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oude- 
narde, and Malplaquet, gained between the years 1704 and 
1709, he brought the great power of Louis XIV. to the verge 
of destruction. Prom this, the French monarch was saved 
only by the quarrels of the two great political parties in 
England. In the same year with the battle of Blenheim was 
27- 



314 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

made the conquest of one of the most valuable of England's 
possessions — the Rock of Gibraltar. This strong fortress was 
carried after a siege of three days, by Sir George Rooke. It 
has ever since remained in the hands of the English, resisting 
every effort on the part of Spain to retake it. 

Since the year 1705, the Whig party had been in power, 
but in 1710, the Tories, who opposed the war, gained the 
ascendancy. The Duke of Marlborough was recalled; the 
ministers who supported the war were turned out of office, 
and, in 1713, the peace of Utrecht was signed. By this long 
contest England fearfully augmented her public debt, and 
her people acquired that passion for military glory, always 
hurtful in its effect upon national character. 

The war had deprived France of its great influence, and 
restored what is called the balance of 'power in Europe ; that 
is, preventing any one state usurpiug an authority injurious 
to the interests of others in the great family of nations. 

The queen was at heart always a Tory. During the first 
half of her reign, she was completely under the control of the 
high-spirited Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. When the 
Marlboroughs sided with the Whigs, Anne was obliged to 
yield to a Whig administration. Later in the reign the 
influence of the duchess was supplanted by Mrs. Masham, a 
relation of her own, whom she had raised from obscurity to a 
position at court. Through this woman the Tories obtained 
an ascendancy over the queen which led to their restoration 
to power. 

Anne was a true Stuart in her views of royal prerogative 
and divine right. She revived the practice of touching for 
the king's evil, or scrofula, and an office was inserted in the 
Prayer-Book to be used on such occasions. The celebrated 
Dr. Johnson, when a child, was touched by Queen Anne. 
His only remembrance of her, he declared in after years, was 
" a confused, but somehow a kind of solemn recollection, of a 
lady in diamonds, and a long black hood." The believers in 
this practice supposed a miraculous power to reside in the 
royal touch, whereby the patient was healed of the disease. 



QUEEN ANNE. GEORGE I. 315 

In Queen Anne's reign, in. the year 1707, was effected the 
union between England and Scotland. Thenceforth the two 
countries became one, under the title of the Kingdom of Great 
Britain. By the treaty which accomplished this union, Scot- 
land ceased to be an independent country. One parliament 
sits for the united kingdoms, in which Scotland is represented 
by sixteen peers in the House of Lords, and forty-five mem- 
bers in the House of Commons. 

The reign of Queen Anne was distinguished by a more 
imperishable glory than that thrown around it by the victories 
of the great Duke of Marlborough. It was made brilliant by 
the writings of Addison, Swift, and Pope, who, together with 
a long list of other scarce less illustrious authors, have con- 
tributed to make this period one of the most remarkable in 
the history of English literature. 

When Queen Anne died, in the year 1714, George, elector 
of Hanover, became king of England. He was the great- 
grandson of Elizabeth, the daughter of James I., who had 
married Frederick, king of Bohemia. 

From the accession of the house of Hanover, the influence 
of the ministers and of parliament becomes of much greater 
importance, in the history of the nation, than the personal 
character of the sovereign. At the death of Queen Anne 
the Tory party lost its power, and the Whigs, with the wise 
and powerful Sir Robert Walpole as their leader, came into 
office. 

The year after the accession of King George I., Great 
Britain was invaded by Prince James Frederick 

1715. J 

Edward Stuart. He was the only son of James II. 
Aided by the French king and the Jacobite party in England, 
and especially encouraged by the devoted Stuart-loyalty of the 
Highland clans of Scotland, he landed in that country, and 
prepared to assert his claim to the throne. His plans were 
badly laid ; he had very little personal bravery, and, notwith- 
standing the ardent enthusiasm of his followers, he became 
dispirited, and finally gave up the cause, and fled back to 
France in disguise. Many paid the penalty of death for the 



316 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

share they had taken in this insurrection. Among the most 
distinguished victims who suffered for the Pretender, were 
Lord Kenmure, a Scotch nobleman, and James Badcliff, 
Earl of Derwentwater. 

In the third year of the reign of King George I. 
was passed the Septennial Bill, prolonging the dura- 
tion of parliament to seven years. Under the triennial law, 
the elections of members every three years had caused great 
disturbances, owing to the excited state of political feeling 
between the Whigs and Tories. The continuance of the 
same parliament for seven years was therefore a beneficial 
measure, and contributed greatly to the tranquillity of the 
country. 

In the year 1711, the public debt of England amounted to 
ten millions of pounds, which was thought at that time quite 
insupportable. To get rid of this great national encumbrance, 
in the course of a certain prescribed number of years, a specu- 
lator named Sir John Blount, proposed in 1719 the following 
plan: to make a certain wealthy and prosperous commercial 
company, known as the South Sea Company, the sole public 
creditor. Then to increase this company's privileges and 
monopolies, to such a degree, as to make it enormously rich, 
and thus enable it, not only to pay off the national debt, but 
also to lend money to government at a low rate of interest. 

Immense numbers to whom the government owed 
money bought stock in this company, which, instead 
of being able to fulfil its engagements, failed, and involved in 
ruin thousands who had put their trust in it. This scheme 
is usually called the South Sea Bubble. Sir Bobert Walpole 
earnestly opposed it from the first, and when the bubble 
burst, did all that a wise financier could do, to lessen the 
mischief and misery which it brought upon the nation. 

In 1727, George I. died suddenly in his carriage, whilst 
journeying in Germany to the palace of his brother, the 
bishop of Osnaburgh. 

Questions. — Who was Queen Anne ? — Who commanded the allied 



GEORGE II. ol/ 

forces on the continent ? — Mention the result of his operations on 
the continent. — Describe the capture of Gibraltar. — What party came 
into power in 1710? — What was the result of their ascendancy? — 
What had been the effect of these continental wars upon England ? — 
What the effect on France and Europe generally ? 

Mention an important event which occurred in 1707. — Describe 
the effect of the union upon Scotland. — Mention some names of lite- 
rary distinction during this reign. — Name some of their works. — 
Who succeeded Queen Anne? — By what right? — What change took 
place at this time affecting the personal importance of the sovereign ? 
— What party came into office on the accession of George I. ? — Who 
invaded England in 1715? — By whom was he encouraged ? — What 
was the issue of this invasion ? — Name some of those who suffered 
in consequence of it. 

What bill affecting parliament was passed in 1716 ? — Describe the 
effect of the previous law. — State the amount of the public debt at 
this time. — Describe Sir John Blount's plan for getting rid of it. — 
Relate the history and result of this scheme. — By what name is it 
known ? — Who opposed it ? — When and where did George I. die ? 



CHAPTER LIV. 

GEORGE II. 

WALPOLE'S ADMINISTRATION — FOREIGN WAKS — THE YOUNG PRETENDER — 
ENGLAND AND THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 

G-eorge II., the son of the late king, came to the throne 
in the year 1727. For fifteen years longer, the administra- 
tion of Sir Robert Walpole, who had become prime minister 
in the year 1721, continued, with great advantage to the 
nation. It was an administration of peace. He sought to 
advance his country in those arts which contribute to social 
prosperity, and cared little for the doubtful glories of the 
battle-field. Notwithstanding these peaceful dispositions, in 
which he was greatly aided by a similar policy on the part 
of the good Cardinal Fleury, then prime minister of France, 
Walpole, rather than resign office, yielded his sense of right 



318 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

and justice to the clamors of the nation, and engaged in a 
war with Spain. The English people, indignant against the 
Spaniards ; because they searched English ships engaged in 
unlawful traffic with the Spanish colonies in America, and 
lured on by the hope of the rich spoils which the conquest of 
those colonies would afford, were loud in their rejoicings when 
the war was declared. Walpole, on the day that the procla- 
mation was made, hearing joyful peals resounding from the 
church-bells, exclaimed: "They may ring the bells now; 
before long they will be wringing their hands." And so it 
proved. The war was disastrous. Walpole became unpopular 
with the nation, and in 1742, after having guided the helm 
of state with ability and success for a period of twenty years, 
was compelled to resign his post as prime minister. 

Before Walpole's resignation, however, England had en- 
gaged in another war, by becoming the ally of Maria Theresa 
of Austria. This noble and high-spirited queen had been 
robbed of a portion of her territory by the king 
of Prussia, whilst the elector of Bavaria disputed 
her accession to the imperial throne. England espoused the 
cause of the injured Maria Theresa, whilst France sided with 
Frederick of Prussia and the Bavarian prince. 

Some of the most important operations during the course 

174:4: °^ * n * s war > as ^ ar as France and" England were con- 

and cerned, were carried on in their colonial possessions 

in America. The English had settled the seaboard 

colonies from Maine to Georgia. The French had planted 

Canada and Louisiana. The settlements which England, 

during a century of war and persecution, had founded, had 

now grown into hardy and prosperous colonies. The colonists 

loved their mother country, and, almost unaided by England, 

they maintained her possessions in the New World against 

the attacks of the French. Indeed the only successes which 

crowned the English arms in America during this war, were 

gained by colonial bravery and enterprise. 

Whilst the armies of England were thus engaged 
in foreign wars, the kingdom was again invaded by a 



GEORGE II. 319 

Stuart pretender. This was Charles Edward Louis Philip 
Cassimir Stuart, the son of James Frederick, or " the Old 
Pretender," as the latter is usually called. In July, 1745, 
with only a handful of followers, he landed in one of the 
western islands of Scotland. To the enthusiasm of the High- 
land chieftains no dark " coming events cast their shadow 
before," and before the Young Pretender had been three 
months in Scotland, he raised, by the mere power of his 
personal influence, an army of twenty-five hundred men, and 
took possession of Edinburgh. 

At Preston Pans he encountered the royal army, which 
quailed and fled before the furious onset of the Highlanders. 
In this action fell the brave and pious Colonel Gardiner, 
whose remarkable history has been made familiar to the world 
by the pen of Doddridge. Charles's adherents were chiefly 
Highland chieftains and their clans, who hoped to see the 
independence of Scotland restored, with a lineal descendant 
of the ancient royal line seated upon the throne. 

When, therefore, Prince Charles Edward led them across 
the border, and plainly showed that his ambition aspired to 
the rule of the united kingdom, the enthusiasm and the 
number of his followers declined. He advanced within one 
hundred and thirty miles of London, but his officers absolutely 
refused to encounter the English forces, and the prince was 
obliged to yield to their opposition, and retreat into Scotland. 
In the winter he was again compelled to give way to the 
demands of his followers, and, abandoning the fruits of a 
victory gained over the English at Falkirk, and the siege of 
Stirling Castle, he retired to the Highlands. Thither he was 
followed by a large force of English and Lowland cavalry, 
commanded by King George's second son, the Duke of Cum- 
berland. 

The two armies met in " battle array" on Culloden Moor, 
a few miles from Inverness, and there was fought the fatal 
action, which for ever blasted the hopes of the Stuarts, and 
crushed the last attempt to place this unfortunate race upon 
a kingly throne. The cruelties inflicted after the battle of 



320 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Culloden, have cast a dark stain on the character of the Duke 
of Cumberland. 

A reward of thirty thousand pounds was placed on the 
head of the Young Pretender. Amid the wretched cabins 
of the Highlands and the Western Isles, there was not found 
one who would betray the hiding-place of the royal fugitive. 
After a series of striking and romantic adventures, Charles 
Edward escaped in a fishing-boat to France. No family of 
royal lineage seem to have inspired more ardent devotion to 
their persons, than the unhappy race of Stuarts. 

In the year 174.8, the contending states of Europe entered 
into a treaty of peace, which was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle. 
A few years later, another contest, called, from its duration, 
" the Seven Years' War,' 7 engaged the nations of Europe. 

The position of parties, however, was greatly changed. 
England and France were still enemies, but France fought 
with Maria Theresa, and England was the ally of Frederick 
of Prussia. The opening scenes of this war were laid in the 
French and English colonies of America. 

The French, in the year 1754, began the erection of a chain 

of posts, extending along the great lakes, and the Ohio and 

the Mississippi rivers. These were designed to connect their 

colonies in Canada with those in Louisiana. In carrying out 

this design they intruded on territory claimed by the English 

colony of Virginia. The English remonstrated ; no attention 

was paid to their remonstrances, and war ensued. The first 

years of the war in America, as well as on the conti- 

to nent, were unfortunate for the English. They were 

175 9 * marked by such disasters as Braddock's defeat, and 

the loss of the island of Minorca. 

This latter possession, granted to England by the peace of 
Utrecht, was much valued by the nation, and as much envied 
and coveted by the French. In the spring of 1756, the latter 
government sent out a large force for the conquest of the 
island. The English ministry became alarmed, and, knowing 
Minorca to be too feebly garrisoned to hold out long against a 
superior force, despatched Admiral Byng to the Mediterra- 



GEORGE II. 321 

Tiean for its relief. The admiral encountered the French 
fleet; an indecisive action ensued, after which, Byng, thinking 
that another encounter, even if successful, would not suffice to 
raise the siege, withdrew to Gibraltar, leaving Minorca to its 
fate. After a gallant resistance, the brave garrison surren- 
dered. Admiral Byng was taken to England, tried by a 
court-martial on the charge of neglect of duty, found guilty, 
and, by the severe penalty of the 12th Article of War, con- 
demned to be shot. m The sentence was executed on the 
quarter-deck of the ship Monarque, in Portsmouth harbor. 

The ill-success of the war aroused the displeasure of the 
nation against the ministry, and the Duke of Newcastle, then 
premier, was forced to resign. He was succeeded by the 
Duke of Devonshire as nominal premier, whilst William Pitt, 
the new secretary of state, was virtually at the head of affairs. 
Pitt possessed the confidence of the nation, but was disliked 
by the king, who, at the end of a few months, dismissed him 
from office. Popular resentment became so strong, however, 
that even the monarch was compelled to bow before it, and 
restore the able minister, in whom alone the nation confided 
as competent to guide the ship of state through the storms 
which threatened. 

William Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham) was a member 
of the House of Commons : a representative of the gentry of 
England. Able and eloquent, supported by the love and 
confidence of the nation, this statesman raised his country to 
a brilliant pitch of military glory. 

The war assumed a new aspect. In America, success 

crowned the arms of the English and colonial troops. Quebec 

surrendered to the heroic valor of the young General Wolfe. 

The hero fell in the moment of victory, leaving as a glorious 

legacy to the country he so nobly served, the French 

colonial possessions of America. 

Questions. — Who succeeded George I. ? — Describe the administra- 
tion of Walpole. — Mention the causes and motives -which led to a war 
with Spain. — In what way did Walpole express his opinion of this 

X 



322 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

war? — What befell this minister in 1742? — Describe the wrongs in- 
flicted upon Maria Theresa. — What power sided with her enemies? — 
How did England act ? 

In what part of America had the English planted colonies ? — 
Describe their condition. — What was the conduct of the English 
colonies in this war? — Give the history of the invasion of the 
"Young Pretender." — What treaty was signed in the year 1748? — 
Describe the position of the parties engaged in the "Seven Years' 
War." — State the circumstances which led to hostilities in America. 
— What is remarked of the early years of this war? — Relate the 
history of the expedition sent to Minorca. — What was the fate of 
Admiral Byng? — How did the results of the war affect the ministry ? 
— Who succeeded Newcastle ? — Describe the position and character 
of Pitt. — Relate the successful operations of the war in America. 



CHAPTER LV. 

GEORGE II.— THE ENGLISH IN INDIA. 

THEIR COLONIES — THE GREAT MOGUL — FRENCH RIVALS — CLIVE — THE 
BLACK HOLE OP CALCUTTA — PLASSEY — SUBSEQUENT VICTORIES. 

Before the glory of England's arms had been retrieved in 
the New World, and Wolfe had fallen on the ramparts of 
Quebec, another young and ardent English hero had laid the 
foundation of British empire in a more distant portion of the 
globe. We have seen that the East India Company had 
established factories for trade in Hindostan. On the eastern 
coast they had built Fort St. George. The village of a half- 
dozen fishermen's huts, with the dwelling of a French priest, 
found there in 1640, had grown into the flourishing town of 
Madras. 

A little further south, on the Coromandel coast, was built 

Fort St. David, whilst on the Hoogly, Fort William, the 

origin of the splendid city of Calcutta, arose a few years. 

before Peter the Great had laid the foundations of 

1698. 

his capital of St. Petersburg on the banks of the 
Neva. On the Malabar coast, Bombay was the important 



GEORGE II. — THE ENGLISH IN INDIA. 323 

settlement. All these had been founded before the close of 
the seventeenth century. Difficulties with the Dutch and 
Portuguese no longer existed, but another formidable rival 
had appeared, to dispute with England her lucrative trade in 
India. 

The French had established factories on the Hoo&ly 

1670. . . ° J 

and also at Pondicherry, about eighty miles below 
Madras, in the large southern province of India known as the 
Carnatic. When France and England were at war, their 
colonies, whether in India or America, were involved in the 
same calamity. In the year 1746, Fort St. George fell into 
the hands of the French. The garrison, surrendering after a 
short but brave defence, were promised honorable treatment. 
This promise was broken, and they were carried prisoners to 
Pondicherry. Numbers of them contrived to escape, and 
among these, habited in the disguise of a Hindoo, Robert 
Clive, a young merchant's clerk of twenty-one, fled to Fort 
St. David. Such was the position of affairs when the treaty 
of Aix-la-Chapelle obliged the French to restore Madras. We 
shall find, however, that, as allies of the native princes, the 
French and English in India carried on hostilities even when 
the mother countries were at peace. 

From the early part of the sixteenth century India had 
been governed by a potentate called "the Great Mogul," who 
resided in much pomp at his capital of Delhi, and appointed 
viceroys, who, nominally under him, but truly by their own 
power, ruled the provinces of Hindostau. Of the splendor 
of the court of Aurungzebe, one of the greatest of the Great 
Moguls, descriptions are given, which surpass the wonders of 
a fairy tale. 

A French traveller, who visited Aurungzebe's court in the 
year 1665, tells us of his "seven splendid thrones; one 
covered with diamonds, another with rubies, with emeralds, 
or with pearls." Whilst the Great Mogul was seated on his 
Peacock Throne, so called from its back being formed by 
jewelled representations of peacocks' tails, thirty splendid 
horses stood ready caparisoned, with bridles set with precious 



324 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

gems, and a large and valuable jewel hanging from the neck 
of each. Elephants were taught to kneel before the throne, 
and do homage with their trunks. 

The French traveller must have been struck with the 
insignificant pomp of the court of his Grand Monarque, then 
the most splendid in Europe, when he contrasted it with the 
surpassing magnificence of this oriental despot. But the 
great Aurungzebe, when the years of his earthly glory had 
numbered nearly one hundred, was gathered to his fathers, 
and the throne of Delhi was mounted by another Mogul, as 
great in outward state and splendor, but of feeble character. 

He had no power to withstand the gradual but sure progress 
of the strange nation from fifteen thousand miles afar, who in 
God's providence were destined to overthrow the power of the 
Great Mogul, and plant a Christian dominion in India. This, 
too, they were to accomplish in less than half a century. 

Meanwhile the powers of the viceroys in the provinces 
greatly increased. In the quarrels continually arising among 
them, the French and English interfered, taking, of course, 
opposite sides. In the wars which followed, the French and 
their Indian allies were so successful, that they threatened to 
drive the English from the Carnatic. By the year 1751, the 
latter were reduced to great extremity. The nabob of Arcot, 
the only Indian prince remaining faithful to their interest, 
was besieged by the French in his last stronghold, which, if 
captured, would render the victors undisputed masters of the 
country. 

At this juncture, Robert Clive planned and executed an 
expedition which saved British India. The English, feebly 
garrisoned at Madras and Fort St. David, could spare no 
military force to send to the relief of their ally. Clive raised 
a little band of five hundred men, three hundred of whom 
were Sepoys (natives who made miserable soldiers), and placed 
over it officers, who, like himself, were mostly merchants' 
clerks. With this force he suddenly marched to Arcot, the 
capital of the Carnatic, hoping to excite fears for the safety 



GEORGE II. — THE ENGLISH IN INDIA. 325 

of this important place, and thus draw the French and Indian 
foes from their attack on the English ally. 

Advancing during a violent thunderstorm, he made him- 
self master of the strong town and fortress, not by assault, but 
by taking advantage of the panic which his dauntless courage 
struck in the minds of the superstitious natives. The French 
ally sent a large detachment to recover Arcot, but Clive held 
the town, bravely repulsed the besiegers, conquered other 
possessions from the French, relieved the nabob of 

and Arcot, and effectually restored the influence of the 
Eno-lish in the Carnatic. 

o 

A few years later, this merchant's clerk, who seems to 
have been il born a soldier/' gained victories which still more 
firmly established the power of the English in India. In the 
northern province of Bengal, there ruled, in the year 1756, 
the Nabob Surajah Dowlah, a cruel and detestable tyrant. 
Becoming jealous of the English, who he fancied had accu- 
mulated great wealth in their factories at Calcutta, he ad- 
vanced against that place with a large army. After a fruitless 
attempt at defence, the garrison of Fort William surrendered, 
under promise that their lives should be spared. 

Left to the charge of the officers of the guard, these inhu- 
man servants of an inhuman master thrust " in the common 
dungeon of the fort," the Black Hole, as it was called, " its 
size only eighteen feet by fourteen ; its air-holes only two 
small windows, and these overhung by a low verandah, one 
hundred and forty-five European men and one English woman, 
some of them suffering from recent wounds, and this in the 
night of the Indian summer-solstice, when the fiercest heat 
was raging." The horrors of that night the pen shrinks from 
recording. 

In vain were bribes offered to their gaolers for relief. The 
only answer was : " The nabob is asleep." No one dared to 
disturb him. Mid agonizing cries of " water ! water !" these 
wretched beings trampled down each other, to get near the 
air-holes, outside the bars of which were held skins of water, 
but, as if in awful aggravation of their misery, these were too 
28 



326 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

large to get through the grating. Meanwhile their fiend-like 
gaolers made most inhuman mirth at their fearful condition, 
and held the lanterns high to gaze upon the scene within, as 
though it had been the struggle of brute beasts, intended for 
the amusement of beings scarcely less brutal. 

Ere morning dawned, a fearful silence reigned in the Black 
Hole of Calcutta. Of one hundred and forty-six 

1756. ' numan beings, who had been there imprisoned, 
twenty-three alone came out through the passage 
made between dead bodies. Strange to say, one of these was 
the Englishwoman. 

When the news of this dreadful outrage reached Madras, 
the horror and indignation of the English knew no bounds. 
Clive proceeded with an army to Calcutta, and on the 2d of 
January, 1757, regained possession of the town and fort. 
In a few months he fought Surajah Dowlah at Plassey, 
gained a complete and brilliant victory with three thousand 
men fighting against fifty thousand, drove the inhuman mon- 
ster from his throne, and laid the foundation of English 
power in Northern India. 

Hitherto the East India Company had been only merchants 
and traders ; henceforth we shall find them conquerors and 
sovereigns. The battle of Plassey was fought on the 23d of 
June, 1757. Three years later, Sir Eyre Coote won from the 
French the battle of Wandewash. This victory, 
J i760 3 ' *°o etner w i tn tne f a ^ °f Pondicherry, which oc- 
curred within a year, established the supremacy 
of the English in the Carnatic, as firmly as that of Plassey 
had done in Bengal. Clive, whose health had become im- 
paired, returned to England in the year 1760. He was 
created a peer, with the title of Baron Clive of Plassey. In 
1765, he returned to India as governor of Bengal. 

In the year 1760, before the news of the great victories of 
Wandewash and Pondicherry had reached England, Greorge 
II. died, and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. 

Questions. — Give some account of the different establishments of 



GEORGE III. 327 

the English in India.— Mention the establishments of the French.— 
What followed the surrender of Fort St. George?— How was this 
state of affairs affected by the peace ?— Relate what is told of the 
Great Mogul.— Describe the condition of India after the death of 
Aurungzebe.— Describe the part taken by the French and English 
in these quarrels. — Relate the success of the French at this time.— 
Describe the position of the English. 

Relate the conduct of Clive, and the result. — By whom was Bengal 
ruled at this time? — What was his treatment of the English? — 
Describe their sufferings in the Black Hole of Calcutta. — What re- 
venge was inflicted by the English ? — When and where, and with 
what result, was the battle fought? — Where, by whom, and with 
what result, was a battle fought three years later ? — What honors 
were bestowed upon Clive ? — When did George II. die ? 



CHAPTER LVI. 

GEORGE III. 

CHARACTERS OF THE SOVEREIGNS — WILLIAM PITT — WAR WITH SPAIN 

PROSECUTION OF WILKES — TAXATION OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES — 
WAR IN CONSEQUENCE — THE RESULT OF THE CONTEST — SIEGE OF GIB- 
RALTAR. 

On the 25th of October, 1760, George III., at the age of 
twenty-two, entered upon the longest, and, in some respects, 
the most prosperous reign in the annals of English history. 
Pious, and endued with kindly affections, the personal cha- 
racter of this monarch gained the ever-increasing love and 
respect of his subjects. The royal household afforded an 
example of good morals and domestic happiness, to which 
the nation had been long unaccustomed in the courts of its 
sovereigns. 

Some years before King George's accession, Charlotte, the 
young princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, had sent a letter to 
Frederick the Great, remonstrating against the cruelty of his 
troops, then laying waste a German province. She writes in 
this letter : " I know, sir, that, in this vicious age, I may be 



328 HISTORY OJT ENGLAND 

laughed at for allowing my heart to mourn my country's ruin, 
to deplore the evils of war, and to wish with all my soul for 
the return of peace. You, sir, will . perhaps think that I 
ought rather to practise myself in the arts of pleasing, or in 
my household affairs. But be this as it may, my heart feels 
so much for these poor unhappy people, that it cannot with- 
hold a pressing entreaty in their behalf." 

This letter was sent by King Frederick to the court of his 
ally, George II. There it was seen by the Prince of Wales, 
on whom it made a deep impression. When he became king 
he married the good and gentle princess of Mecklenburg- 
Strelitz. The marriage took place the year succeeding that 
of his accession to the throne, and shortly after, the royal 
couple were crowned with magnificent ceremonies at West- 
minster Abbey. 

When G-eorge III. came to the throne, the power and glory 
of William Pitt were at their height. The French had been 
defeated in America, in India, and on the continent, and the 
victories of Quebec and Pondicherry were chiefly due to the 
spirit of military ardor with which this statesman had inspired 
the army and navy of Grreat Britain. 

These triumphs, although flattering to national pride, had 

been gained at an immense expense, and a party headed by 

the Earl of Bute, then the most influential adviser of the 

king, was solicitous for peace. Whilst the ambassadors at 

the courts of the interested nations were arranging 

1761. . & & 

the terms of a treaty, the kings of France and Spain 
entered into a secret compact, which tended to disturb the 
balance of power in Europe, and to"prove highly injurious tc 
the interests of England. 

This Family Compact, so called because the kings who 
made it were both Bourbons, came to the knowledge of 
William Pitt. In order to prevent its evil results, he pro- 
posed that England should at once declare war against Spain 
Unable to carry this measure, the minister retired from office 
He bore with him the affection and confidence of the nation 
which was not given to his successor, the Earl of Bute. 



GEORGE III. 329 

To add to Pitt's popularity, the new ministry was obliged, 
within three months of his resignation, to declare war against 
Spain. And still higher to raise the triumph of the great 
commoner, the most glorious achievements of the war — the 
conquest of Havana in the West, and of Manilla in the East 
Indies — were enterprises both of which Pitt was known to 
have planned. 

France and Spain, humbled by their losses, were 
soon willing to make peace. The Earl of Bute, who 
ruled in the councils of England, was so anxious for peace, 
that he agreed to terms which were deemed less favorable than 
those which the nation had a right to demand, considering 
the advantages which England had gained, and the expense 
she had incurred. The treaty was signed at Paris, February 
10th, 1763. 

The unpopularity of the Earl of Bute became so great that 
he was obliged to resign office. Sir George Grenville suc- 
ceeded him as prime minister. His administration was 
marked by two important events : the prosecution of Wilkes, 
and the taxation of the American colonies., 

John Wilkes was a member of parliament, and editor of a 
newspaper called " The North Briton." In the forty-fifth 
number of this paper he made an attack on the personal 
character of the king. For this offence, a general warrant 
was issued, under which Wilkes's papers were seized, and 
Wilkes himself was arrested and thrown into the Tower. A 
few days after, he was brought by writ of habeas corpus before 
the chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas, who declared 
that general warrants were illegal, and Wilkes was conse- 
quently liberated. Prosecuted in parliament, he was sum- 
moned to appear at the bar of the Commons, on a charge of 
libel. He refused at first on the plea of ill health, and then 
taking the opportunity of an adjournment of the house, 
escaped to Paris. He was expelled from the House of Com- 
17G8 mons, and a sentence of outlawry was passed against 

to him. A few years after, Wilkes returned to Eug- 
land, and was elected member of parliament for 
28* 



330 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



Middlesex, but he was not allowed to take his seat. These 
attacks on the freedom of elections and liberty of the press, 
made Wilkes, although a man of corrupt morals, extremely 
popular, and excited much feeling throughout the country. 
At length, in 1774, government grew tired of this perse- 
cution. He was elected lord mayor, and allowed to sit in 
parliament. 

The English colonies in the wilds of America, although 
harassed by Indian and colonial wars, had grown in numbers 
and prosperity. They had received but little fostering care 
or kindly encouragement from -the mother country, yet their 
affection for England was both ardent and sincere. They 
had fought in her battles, and rejoiced in her triumphs. 
They gloried, too,- in the rights of English freemen, and were 
determined that these rights should flourish in the new land 
to which they had been transplanted. 

One of these rights, best known and valued, was that of 
not being taxed without their own consent. Once, during 
Sir Robert Walpole's administration, a suggestion was made 
to levy a tax on the American colonies. " He who shall 
propose it will be a much bolder man than I am," was the 
wise statesman's reply. And in the days of Walpole, the 
colonies were far less capable of resisting than in 1765. But 
in 1765 the bolder man was found. In that year, Sir George 
Grenville, at the suggestion of the king, not only proposed, 
but carried through parliament, an act imposing a stamp duty 
on the North American colonies, — colonies unrepresented in 
the parliament of England. 

Sir George Grenville had retired from office, when news 
came across the waters that the indignant colonies, from 
Massachusetts to Georgia, had, with one consent, resisted this 
unjust attack upon their English rights and liberties. When 
the announcement was made, Pitt, now Earl of Chatham, rose 
in the House of Commons, and exclaimed: "I reioice 

1766. . ' . J 

that America has resisted. Three millions of people 
so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit 



GEORGE III. 331 

to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves 
of the rest." 

The Stamp Act was repealed,' but the right of taxation was 

still claimed, and in the following year duties were laid upon 

tea and various articles imported into the American 

1767. m n * 

colonies. During the next nine years, acts most 
unjust in themselves, and irritating to the Americans, were 
passed in the British parliament. The colonists were roused 
to rebellion. 

In April of the year 1775, General G-age, governor of the 
colony of Massachusetts, sent from Boston a body of British 
soldiers to seize stores of powder which the colonists had 
collected at Concord, a place about sixteen miles from Boston. 
As the soldiers passed through the village of Lexington, they 
found the Minute Men gathered on the common to oppose 
their march. The soldiers fired upon the colonial militia. 
It was the opening scene in the eight years' war of independ- 
ence. In June followed the battle of Bunker's Hill, and the 
American Revolution fairly began. 

In the ensuing year, July 4th, 1776, the last bond of 
political union between England and her American colonies 
was broken. The voice of the latter went forth in the ever- 
memorable Declaration of Independence, that " these united 
colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent 
states, and that they are absolved from all allegiance to the 
British crown." 

For seven years England refused to acknowledge this inde- 
pendence, and troops were sent over to force the colonists 
into submission. But the measures of the infant republic 
were guided by true and able counsellors, and for the com- 
mander of her soldiers she had chosen, in General Washington, 
one of the wisest and best men the world has ever seen. 
Then, too, amid even the darkest reverses of the contest, the 
spirit of the people remained faithful to the Declaration of 
Independence. 

The first years of the war, although marked by some sue- 



doli HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

cesses, were, on the whole, disastrous to the colonies. But on 
the 16th of October, 1777, a British army under General 
Burgoyne capitulated to the Americans on the plains of 
Saratoga, and the result of this important victory was to win 
for the struggling colonies the alliance of France. At the 
end of four more years of varying success, in the contest 
between England and her colonies, another British army, 
commanded by Lord Cornwallis, surrendered to the united 
forces of the United States and France, at the battle of 
Yorktown. This event, which took place on the 19th of 
October, 1781, was, in fact, the conclusion of the war. 

The conduct of the ministry towards the American colonies 
had been censured by a strong party in parliament during the 
entire struggle. In June, 1781, a motion was made in the 
House of Commons, "that his majesty's ministers ought im- 
mediately to take every possible measure for concluding peace 
with our American colonies." This motion was ably defended 
by William Pitt, the youthful son of the great orator and 
statesman who, in 1765, had so strongly censured the taxing 
of the colonies. By the year 1782, the war had become so 
unpopular, that the minister, Lord North, resigned. A new 
Whig ministry succeeded, and a treaty of peace was concluded, 
bv which the independence of the United -States of 

1783. J . r 

America was acknowledged. 

In the treaty of Paris, signed September, 1783, England 
by no means resigned all her possessions in America. The 
country whose independence she acknowledged stretches from 
the river St. Lawrence and the great lakes on the north, to 
the Gulf of Mexico on the south. Beyond the northern 
boundary of the United States, still lie the vast possessions 
of British America, including the valuable island of New- 
foundland. 

When Mr. Adams, the first minister sent from the United 
States of America to the court of St. James, appeared in the 
presence of the king, his majesty said to him: "I was the 
last man in the kingdom, sir, to consent to the independence 



GEORGE III. 333 

of America ; but, now it is granted, I shall be the last man 
in the world to sanction a violation of it." 

The war as conducted in America had been unfortunate for 
England, but in Europe, where she was contending against 
France and Spain, the closing year of the contest was marked 
by the defence of Gibraltar, one of the bravest and noblest 
achievements ever recorded in the annals of war. 

The recovery of this strong fortress had for years been the 

constant hope and aim of the Spaniard. Again and again 

had it been attempted, but the firm old rock, and the firm 

hearts upon it, had defied every attack. At length, in the 

summer of the year 1782, after the fortress had been in a 

Sine state °^ sie S e f° r three years, vast preparations were 

Jniy, made for an assault, before *which it was deemed that 

Gibraltar must inevitably fall. 

Forty thousand French and Spaniards were assembled for 
the land attack. In the bay floated a formidable fleet. Ten 
huge floating batteries, made fire-proof, as the besiegers fondly 
believed, and armed with two hundred and twelve brass guns, 
threw bomb-shells into the fortress, whilst one thousand pieces 
of artillery thundered against the rock. " Is it taken ?" was 
the first question asked by the Spanish king each morning on 
awaking. " Not yet," was the daily repeated reply. " Well ! 
but it must soon be ours," was the response of the confident 
monarch. 

To resist this mighty array, one of the greatest ever brought 
against a single fortress, there were but seven thousand 
English soldiers, commanded by General Eiliot, and in the 
bay a single brigade of gun-boats, under Captain Curtis. 

On the morning of the 13th of September were seen crowds 
of Spaniards assembled on the hills which surround Gibraltar. 
From this natural amphitheatre they gazed upon a scene of 
intense and fearful interest. By nine o'clock, the enemies' 
fleet came within gun-shot of the walls of the fortress, and a 
fire was opened upon it, which was soon returned. Four 
hundred pieces of heavy artillery made the hills resound. 



334 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

All day long the firing was kept up, but early in the evening 
the hearts of the assailants failed them, for the red-hot shot 
from the garrison had set the ships on fire, and by midnight 
" the only flashes from the floating batteries were the flames 
that were consuming them." At five o'clock on the morning 
of the 14th, one of these huge constructions blew up with a 
fearful explosion, and a second soon shared the same fate. 

"What followed on the part of the conquerors," says a 
narrator, " is become a household word — a touching and a 
sacred tale, which two generations of Englishmen have learned 
in the cradle, and which succeeding generations will tell to 
their children, as the best exemplification of the axiom, that 
the bravest are ever the most merciful." On shore, General 
Elliot ordered the firing to cease, whilst the noble crew of 
Captain Curtis, those few but gallant spirits, dashed among 
the burning wrecks, to save, not their own men, but the 
drowning, burning Spaniards, who, clinging to spars, or still 
on the blazing decks, were exposed to a fearful death. From 
the flames and from the waves, two hundred and fifty were 
rescued by the intrepidity of this noble enemy. 

The French and Spanish navy was still formidable, and 
they hoped that by intercepting supplies to the garrison, 
they might yet compel Gibraltar to surrender. This hope 
vanished when Admiral Lord Howe, on the 11th October, 
sailed through the straits, and a few days later landed stores 
and troops within the devoted fortress. 

The hopeless siege was continued, but with little spirit on 
the part of the Spaniards, until the peace was signed. From 
the rock of Gibraltar, at the proud height of fourteen hun- 
dred and thirty-seven English feet, the flag of Great Britain 
still waves over those narrow straits, the key of the Mediter- 
ranean , which she has so bravely won, and so nobly guarded. 
The year succeeding the treaty, William Pitt, 
second son of the Earl of Chatham, became prime 
minister. He was only in the twenty-fifth year of his age 
when he thus assumed the government of the country. With 



GEORGE III. 335 

great ability and success he guided the helm of state for 
seventeen years ; through a period, too, so eventful and 
perilous to England, that his administration almost eclipses 
that of his illustrious father. The elder Pitt, created, in 
1766, Earl of Chatham, had, in the year ^778, been com- 
mitted to an honored tomb in Westminster Abbey. 

Questions. — When and at what age did George III. ascend the 
throne ? — Describe his character. — Relate the circumstances which 
led to his marriage. — What was the position of Pitt at this time ? — 
What victories had been gained ? — Why was the war opposed ? — By 
whom? — Relate the conduct of France which delayed the peace. — 
What caused the resignation of Pitt ? — Relate the occurrences which 
followed his resignation. — To what did these lead ? — What is re- 
marked of the treaty of Paris ? 

Mention the two distinguishing acts of GrenviUVs administration. 
— Relate the account given of Wilkes. — Describe the position and 
character of the English colonies in America at this time. — What 
right did they especially value ? — By what act was this right vio- 
lated? — Describe the etfect produced by it in the colonies. — How 
did Pitt regard their resistance ? — Relate the conduct of government 
towards the colonies during the next nine years. — What was the 
result ? 

State the occurrences which began the Revolutionary war. — When 
and by what act was the political connection between the two 
countries severed ? — Describe the condition of the republic during 
this war. — Mention the result of the battle of Saratoga. — When and 
by what battle was the contest terminated? — How had the conduct 
of the government been regarded by parliament ? — Relate the cir- 
cumstances which led to the peace. — Describe the provisions of the 
treaty. — Describe the reception of the American minister at the 
English court. 

With what enemies on the continent was England contending ? — 
Give an account of the siege of Gibraltar. — State its result. — Name 
and describe the prime minister who came' into office in 1784. 



336 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

CHAPTER LVIL 

THE ENGLISH IN INDIA. 

BRITISH CONQUESTS — THE RULE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY — WARREN 
HASTINGS — HIS CAREER IN INDIA — HIS IMPEACHMENT AND TRIAL IN 
ENGLAND — INDIA AT THE CLOSE OP THIS PERIOD. 

Although England during this period had lost her colo- 
nies in America, in the opposite quarter of the globe she had 
in the same years been gaining an empire. The foundation 
of the great power of the English in India had been laid by 
the victories of Clive, Sir Eyre Coote, Major Munro, and 
other commanders; by arbitrary exactions ; by treaties made 
with Indian princes greatly to the advantage of the Company, 
and by intimidation and conquest when these treaties were 
violated. In all these transactions there existed no small 
amount of that injustice and oppression which the strong are 
ever apt to exercise towards the weak. 

At various times the state of Indian affairs was discussed in 
parliament, and bills brought in to restrain the East India 
Company, especially in the acquisition of territory, and in the 
exercise of legislative and executive power. In the year 
J773, a bill passed in parliament, by which a court of justice 
was established in Bengal, consisting of judges appointed by 
the crown. The same bill also provided for the appointment 
of a governor-general of India, with four counsellors, to be 
nominated in the first instance by parliament, but at the end 
of five years by the court of directors of the East India 
Company, subject, however, to the approbation of the crown. 

Under this act, there was appointed for India a ruler whose 

character and achievements were as remarkable as 

those of Clive, and who, like him, devoted all his 

energies to maintain and increase English supremacy in the 

East- This was Warren Hastings, He claimed descent 



THE ENGLISH IN INDIA. 66 i 

from the Danish Viking of that name, who, in Alfred's time, 
had ravaged England. He went to India as a writer in the 
Company's service, and rose by his talents to the post of 
governor-general. The dauntless character and un- 
scrupulous conduct of the merchant's clerk did not 
belie his descent from the illustrious sea-king of old. 

The position of Hastings as governor-general of India was, 
one of great temptation and difficulty. His object was to 
maintain the supremacy of England against a combination 
of enemies, French and natives, and to approve himself to the 
board of directors of the East India Company at home. This 
Company, at the distance of fifteen thousand miles, either 
could not, or would not, understand, that, in order to obtain 
the large commercial profits which they expected, the native 
population must be robbed or oppressed. Whilst, therefore, 
they urged that the Hindoos should be kindly and justly 
dealt with, they at the same time demanded that more money 
should be sent to England. The governor-general found it 
impossible to obey both these commands, and, to use the 
words of Macaulay, u being forced to disobey them in some- 
thing, he had to consider what kind of disobedience they 
would most readily pardon; and he correctly judged that the 
safest course would be to neglect the sermons, and find the 
rupees." 

This led him into acts of cruelty and injustice. He seized 
two provinces belonging to the Great Mogul, and sold them 

1773 ^ or a * ar § e sum to ***e na b°k °f Oude. Then, in 
and consideration of another large sum, he sold the ser- 
vices of the English troops to the same nabob, to 
enable the latter to conquer a brave, free, and happy people 
in the vale of Rohilcund, and subject them to his own miser- 
able rule. Some years later Hastings committed that which 
in the eyes of the Hindoos was a far greater crime. On the 
banks of the Granges stands the city of Benares. It is as 
sacred in the eyes of the Brahmin worshippers of India, as is 
Jerusalem to the devout Jew, and Mecca to the followers of 
29 Y 



338 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Moliammed. Its splendid temples, its jewelled shrines, its 
graceful minarets, the nights of marble steps leading down 
to the sacred stream, the consecrated hulls and apes which 
thronged the streets or clung to the temples, were objects 
of time-honored veneration throughout India. Besides the 
costly offerings of religion, commerce had enriched this favored 
city. " In its bazaars the muslins of Bengal and the sabres 
of Oude were mingled with the jewels of Golconda and the 
shawls of Cashmere." Warren Hastings was in need of 
money. His was the hand by which might made 
■ right, and, in defiance of the horror which such a 
deed awakened, he plundered the holy city of Benares. 

Whilst these transactions were going on in Bengal, the 
attention of the governor-general was suddenly demanded in 
another quarter. Hyder-Ali, the famous Mohammedan chief- 
tain of Mysore,, had burst upon the plains of the Carnatic. 
With an army of ninety thousand men, and the powerful 
co-operation of the French, he threatened to drive the English 
17gl from Southern India. Hastings raised an army, gave 

to it in command of the venerable old soldier, Sir Eyre 
Coote, who drove back the bold invader, and restored 
vO the English the presidency of Madras. This war had 
drained the governor-general's treasury, and the wealth gained 
by the plunder of Benares was not sufficient to replenish it. 
To obtain, therefore, another supply, he robbed two Indian 
princesses, the mother and grandmother of the nabob of Oude. 
These aged women were imprisoned in their palace, until, 
half famished, they consented to give their rapacious gaoler 
one million two hundred thousand pounds. 

By such means did Warren Hastings obtain the large 
revenue requisite to carry on the expenses of his Indian 
government. In February, 1785, the governor-general re- 
signed his office, and embarked for England. Notwithstand- 
ing these glaring instances of oppression and wrong on the 
part of Hastings, they by no means marked the general cha- 
racter of his administration. This had, in fact, been so wise 



THE ENGLISH IN INDIA. 339 

and beneficent, that he left India admired and regretted by 
the natives, by the servants of the East India Company, and 
by the army. 

Three years later Warren Hastings stood before the high 
court of parliament assembled in Westminster Hall, 

1788. r . 

and listened to the following impeachment from the 
lips of Edmund Burke, one of the most brilliant orators that 
England has ever produced. 

" Ordered by the Commons, 

" I impeach Warren Hastings, Esquire, of high crimes and 
misdemeanors. 

" I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great 
Britain, in parliament. assembled, whose parliamentary trust 
he has betrayed. 

" I impeach him in the name of all the Commons of Great 
Britain, whose national character he has dishonored. 
. " I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose 
laws, rights, and liberties he has subverted, whose properties 
he has destroyed, whose country he has laid waste and deso- 
late. 

" I impeach him in the name and by virtue of those eternal 
laws of justice which he has violated. 

" I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which 
he has cruelly outraged, injured, and oppressed, in both sexes, 
in every age, rank, situation, and condition of life. 

" And I conjure this high and sacred court to let not these 
pleadings be heard in vain I" 

In the speech which preceded this impeachment, Burke 
drew such a vivid picture of the wrongs which the late 
governor-general had inflicted on the inhabitants of India, 
that " sobs and tears, which are said not all to have proceeded 
from the gentler sex, were heard and seen in nearly every part 
of the hall." Even Hastings himself said : " For half an hour, 
I looked up at the orator in a reverie of wonder ; and during 
that space, I actually felt myself the most culpable man on 
earth f.' he adds, " but I recurred to my own bosom, and there 
found a consciousness that consoled me under all I heard and 



340 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. 

all I suffered." Such was the magic power of this remarkable 
orator. 

Never in the annals of England's history, has there been a 
trial of such high and intense interest as that of Warren 
Hastings. On the 13th of February, 1788, there were 
gathered in the magnificent old hall which the Norman 
Rufus had built, the royalty, nobility, talent, and beauty 
of the realm. From the galleries gazed those whose united 
presence would alone have rendered the scene one of sur- 
passing interest. There sat Gibbon the historian, Sir Joshua 
Reynolds the painter, Gainsborough, and Dr. Parr. Mrs. 
Siddons, the celebrated actress, looked down upon a scene 
and listened to words which dimmed with tears the eyes 
of even this queen of tragedy. The trial was managed by 
such men as Burke, Sheridan, and Fox, whose eloquence 
thrills us with enthusiasm even when read at this distant day, 
unaided by the impassioned tones and gestures of the living 
orator. 

Nor was the criminal unworthy of such a bar. For twelve 
years he had been the ruler of the millions of India, and had 
rescued and preserved British power there in the hour of its 
greatest peril. During years in which England suffered 
greater losses in her foreign possessions than she had ever 
before sustained, during the years which witnessed the 
independence of her colonies in the New World, Warren 
Hastings preserved and extended for her in Asia, an empire 
the most valuable of all her colonial dependencies, and that 
which enables her to boast that " on the dominions of the 
sovereign of Great Britain the sun never sets." 

The trial of Warren Hastings was continued in every 
session of parliament through seven long years. Of the one 
hundred and sixty peers who in gold and ermine had walked 
in procession to Westminster Hall on the first day of the trial, 
only twenty-nine were present at the final judgment. Sixty 
were in their graves. Hastings complained that "the arraign- 
ment had taken place before one generation, and the judg- 
ment was pronounced by another." On the 23d of April, 



THE ENGLISH IN INDIA. , 341 

1795, this long trial was ended, and the criminal was pro- 
nounced " not guilty." 

Hastings retired to his ancestral seat at Daylesford, and 
devoted the remaining twenty-four years of his life to literary 
and agricultural pursuits. He became a liberal patron of 
education, discoveries, and improvements, especially such as 
might conduce to the well-being of India. 

In that country other governors-general of ability had suc- 
ceeded Hastings, and towards the close of the century, the 
East India Company^had become the predominant power in 
Hindostan. The powerful successor of Hyder-Ali, Tippoo 
Saib, was defeated during Lord Cornwallis's administration, 
in the battle of Seringapatam. During the Marquis 
of Wellesley's wise and beneficent rule, Tippoo was 
finally conquered, and his vast kingdom of Mysore fell into 
the hands of the English. The fierce Mahrattas were sub- 
dued, French power annihilated, and British rule or influence 
extended throughout the peninsula. 

Questions. — Describe the means by -which the power of the Eng- 
lish in India had been established. — What was the object of the bills 
regarding India? — State the provisions of the bill passed in 1773. — 
Who was Warren Hastings ? — Describe his position as governor- 
general. — Narrate the acts of injustice committed by him in India in 
the years 1773 and 1774. — Repeat the description given of Benares. 
— What was Hastings's conduct towards this city ? 

What was the condition of Southern India at this time? — How did 
the governor-general act in this emergency? — How did he defray 
the expenses of this war. — What had been the general character 
of Hastings's rule in India? — Where and by whom was his impeach- 
ment read? — Recite the articles. — Describe the effect of Burke's 
speech. — Describe the audience and scene at the time of the trial. — 
State the benefits which Hastings's administration had conferred on 
England. — Repeat the account given of the close of this trial. — 
What was Hastings's subsequent history? — Describe the position 
of the English in India towards the close of the century. — During 
whose administrations had these events occurred ? 
29* 



to 
1793. 



342 history or England. 



CHAPTER LVIIL 

GEORGE III. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION — ITS EFFECT UPON ENGLAND — WAR — VICTO- 
RIES MUTINY IN THE FLEET — CAMPERDOWN — BATTLE OF THE NILE 

ACRE — IRELAND — THE UNION. 

Long before Warren Hastings's triafr was ended, the inte- 
rest of the nation was diverted from the fate of an individual 
(however remarkable), to become absorbed in that of their 
ancient rival, the monarchy of France. The people of this 
country, rendered miserable by oppression, rose against their 
1789 ru ^ ers - They elected a national assembly, declared 
war against royalty and nobility, which they believed 
the source of all their sufferings, and finally, after 
many acts of violence, brought their monarch and his queen 
to the block. 

The French Revolution produced a great sensation through- 
out England, dividing the country into two parties. The 
clear-sighted Edmund Burke saw from the first the tendency 
of its principles, and the evils of espousing the cause of the 
revolutionists. " Men," he wisely observed, " must have a 
certain fund of natural moderation to qualify them for free- 
dom, else it becomes noxious to themselves, and a perfect 
nuisance to everybody else." William Pitt, too, although he 
took a more hopeful view of this blow for freedom, refrained 
from interfering in French affairs. 

Another party, headed by Mr. Fox, applauded the princi- 
ples of the French Revolution. To this party rallied all the 
discontented spirits in the kingdom, and for many years the 
English constitution was in no small peril. Excited by 
French emissaries, whose motto was " war to the palace and 
peace to the cottage," the people in many places, especially 
in the manufacturing districts, grew turbulent, committed 
outrages, and clamored for a reform in parliament. 



GEORGE III. 343 

The difference of opinion on the tendency of the French 
Revolution, and the consequent duty of encouraging or op- 
posing it, produced violent contentions in the British parlia- 
ment. It severed the friendship of Fox and Burke, "which," 
to use the words of the latter, "had stood the strain of a 
whole lifetime." 

On the execution of the French king, the English 

1793. i • , 

government remonstrated against the course taken 
by the revolutionists, and especially protested against their 
introducing their republican principles into other countries. 
In the year 1793, the French National Convention declared 
war against Great Britain. Then commenced the long and 
dreadful contest of the French Revolution, which lasted, with 
but a short interval of peace, through a period of more than 
twenty years. 

England's victories were won chiefly on the sea, whilst 
France, especially after the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, re- 
mained mistress of the continent. 

The year succeeding the declaration of the war, 

Admiral Lord Howe gained a brilliant naval victory 
off Brest, on the French coast. The moral effect of this 
victory was felt throughout England. It roused the enthu- 
siasm of the people, united them with the government, and 
suppressed in a great measure the disaffection excited by 
French revolutionary principles. 

A few years later, the navy of England, that strong 

arm which had for centuries upheld her glory, was 
imperilled by a mutiny which began in the Channel fleet. 
The pay of the sailors was very low. They received no more 
than in the days of Charles II., whilst nearly every article of 
life had doubled in price since that time. The discipline of 
the navy, too, was excessively harsh. These grievances 
created a wide-spread feeling of discontent, and on the morn- 
ing of the 15th of April, 1797, when Lord Bridport gave 
orders to the Channel fleet to prepare for sea, instead of 
obeying the command, his crew ran up the shrouds, and gave 
three cheers. These were answered with a vigor from the 



344 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

other vessels, wliicli proved the spirit of mutiny to be general 
throughout the fleet. 

The mutineers sent a petition to the House of Commons 
and to the Board of Admiralty, expressing unshaken loyalty 
to king and country, but stating their grievances, and de- 
manding redress. Their reasonable demands were agreed to 
by the Board of Admiralty. To reassure them, Lord Howe, 
who was revered and beloved by the whole navy, went down 
to the fleet at Spithead, assured them of the good intentions 
of the government, and induced them to strike the red flag 
of insurrection. 

Two months later, a still more formidable mutiny broke out 
in that part of the squadron stationed at the Nore. This 
outbreak was headed by a seaman on board the Sandwich, 
who took the title of President of the Floating Republic. 
When this outbreak occurred, Admiral Duncan, with part 
of the squadron, was blockading the Butch in the Texel. 
Every vessel, save his own line-of-battle-ship and two frigates, 
deserted. With the firmness of a true and noble patriot, the 
admiral refused to give up the blockade. Gathering his own 
crew around him, he addressed them in a speech of such 
touching eloquence, that they responded by a unanimous and 
enthusiastic promise to abide by him in life or death. 

Meanwhile the mutineers, who had drawn themselves up 
in battle array across the Thames, became so unreasonable in 
their demands, which were urged, moreover, in so threatening 
a manner, that government, despite the imminent peril, de- 
termined to resist them. " Shall we yield," exclaimed Mr. 
Sheridan in parliament, "to mutinous sailors? Never! for in 
one moment we should extinguish three centuries of glory." 
The buoys were removed from the Thames, every precaution 
was taken to prevent the mutinous vessels ascending the river, 
and throughout the country, merchants, sailors, and soldiers 
volunteered to stand by the government. The sailors of the 
Channel fleet patriotically remonstrated with those at the 
Nore, and urged them to return to duty. 

Finding the whole nation against them, the spirit of the 



GEORGE III. 345 

mutineers was subdued. Vessel by vessel deserted the bad 
cause, and by the 15th of June, the red flag had been struck 
throughout the squadron. The ringleader with several others 
Tvas put to death. After the suppression of this mutiny, the 
grievances of both army and navy were carefully redressed, and 
the condition of both arms of the service greatly improved. 

During this very year, a striking proof of the true 

loyalty of the fleet was given by the victories of St. 
Vincent and Camperdown. Admiral- Jar vis met the Spanish 
fleet off Cape St. Vincent on the coast of Portugal. It con- 
sisted of twenty-seven ships of the line and twelve frigates. 
Jarvis had but fifteen sail of the line and six frigates. Yet 
he boldly attacked the Spanish fleet, and gained the victory. 
In this engagement Lord Nelson greatly distinguished himself. 
In October, 1797, a large Dutch fleet left the Texel, to 
unite with a French squadron at Brest, for the invasion of 
Ireland. Admiral Duncan intercepted the Dutch ships before 
they had left the shores of Holland, and engaging them off 
Camperdown, won a hard-fought but brilliant and important 
victory. This battle, gained by the very squadron which a 
few months before had been in open mutiny, spread joy 
throughout England. Bonfires and illuminations in town 
and country testified the universal enthusiasm of the nation. 
Before the close of another year, England again blamed with 
illuminations, and resounded with artillery, in honor of an- 
other splendid victory, won by Lord Nelson at the battle of 
the Nile. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, then at the head of the 

armies of France, invaded Egypt, hoping to become 
master of that country, and thence to strike a fatal blow at 
the English possessions in India. Lord Nelson, who had 
been ordered to the Mediterranean, learned at Messina the 
course which Napoleon's fleet had taken, and started in pur- 
suit Nelson sailed in June, but missed the French fleet, 
and several weeks elapsed before he found the enemy he was 
so eager to encounter. On the morning of the 1st of August, 
as Nelson's fleet hove in sight of the Pharos of Alexandria, 



346 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

he beheld the harbor crowded with French vessels, and the 
tri-eolor of the republic floating over the walls*of the town. 
" Before this time to-morrow/' exclaimed Nelson, as he gazed 
upon them, " I shall have gained a peerage or Westminster 
Abbey." 

The French fleet, forming a curved line, occupied a strong 
position in Aboukir Bay. Nelson determined to send a part 
of his squadron between the enemy and the shore, and to 
attack with the rest on the other side, thus placing the 
French between two fires. On communicating this design to 
one of his captains, the latter exclaimed : " If we succeed, 
what will the world say V- " There is no ' if in the case," 
replied Nelson. " That we shall succeed is certain ; who may 
live to tell the story is a very different question." The 
engagement began at three o'clock in the afternoon, and 
lasted until midnight. At night the blaze of two thousand 
pieces of artillery illuminated the scene, " and the volumes 
of flame and smoke that rolled away from the bay, gave it 
the appearance of a terrific volcano suddenly bursting forth 
in the midst of the sea." By nine o'clock three French 
ships had struck their colors, two were dismasted, and flames 
were fast enveloping a third, " L' Orient," although she still 
made a brave defence. 

On tire burning deck of that vessel stood the youthful 
Casablanca. He was the son of the French admiral, and 
only ten years of age. With heroic firmness he refused to 
quit his post, even when the guns had been abandoned, and 

" The flames that lit the battle's wreck, 
Shone round him. o'er the dead." 

A few moments more, and those flames had reached the 
powder magazine. Then followed the fearful destruction of 
the " Orient" and her gallant crew, 

"With mast, and helm, and pennon fair, 
That well had borne their part, — 
But the noblest thing that perished there, 
Was that young faithful heart." 



GEORGE III. 347 

When the battle ended at midnight, of the entire French 
fleet, but four vessels escaped to carry the melancholy tidings 
to France. 

Before the close of the action, Nelson was severely wounded. 
"When carried below, the surgeon immediately left the seamen, 
to dress the wounds of their admiral. "No," said Nelson, 
" I will take my turn with my brave fellows." Nor would he 
receive the surgeon's attention until that officer had attended 
to all who had been previously brought down. From his 
grateful country Nelson received a handsome pension and the 
title of Baron Nelson of the Nile. 

The emissaries of France, by declaring " war to the palace, 
and peace to" the cottage/' had sought to rouse the middle 
and lower classes against their rulers. In the year 1798, the 
monarch and ministry of England gave a strong proof of 
their reliance on the loyalty of true British hearts, by estab- 
lishing the volunteer system throughout the kingdom. By 
this system, arms were placed in the hands of one hundred 
and fifty thousand of the people, that they might therewith 
defend their country and the constitution. These volunteer 
corps proved faithful to the trust reposed in them. Even in 
the manufacturing towns, where discontents and clamors for a 
reform of the constitution had been most violent, the volun- 
teers were zealous in their loyalty, and suppressed in a great 
measure the disturbances which had prevailed. 

Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, which was a province 
1798 °^ tne Turkish empire, induced the sultan to declare 
war against him. A few months later, being threat- 
ened with an attack from the Turks by land and by sea, Na- 
poleon formed the bold design of crossing the desert to Syria, 
where the principal army of the sultan was assembled. He 
hoped to destroy this army, to rouse the inhabitants of the 
country against their rulers, and to found a splendid empire 
in the East. Filled with visions of oriental conquest and 
dominion, the French army entered the Holy Land. The 
sacred hills and plains of Galilee, the heights of Carmel, the 



348 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

sea of G-ennesaret, Nazareth, and Cana, names hallowed by 
Scriptural associations, now resounded with the din of arms. 

Napoleon laid siege to Acre. It was defended by the 
Turks, and in the Bay of Carmel lay a small English fleet, 
commanded by Sir Sidney Smith. This trying siege con- 
tinued from the 16th of March to the 7th of May. 

1799. . J 

On the evening of the latter day an Ottoman fleet of 
thirty sail, with stores of ammunition and artillery, anchored 
in the bay. Napoleon at once ordered an assault, hoping to 
take the town before relief could be thrown into it. This 
assault, renewed for three days, was made with all the energy 
of despair. It was unavailing, and at last there fell from 
Napoleon's lips the first order for retreat which that successful 
general had ever uttered. He left on the Syrian plains three 
thousand of his brave men — there, too, lay buried his glorious 
visions of oriental empire. With heavy hearts the remnant 
of his army retraced their march to Egypt, through the burn- 
ing sands of the desert. Of Sir Sidney Smith, Napoleon 
often said : " That man made me miss my destiny." 

The domestic history of Great Britain during the closing 
years of this century was hardly more peaceful than her 
foreign relations. The principal causes of disturbance arose 
in Ireland. That country, ever since its conquest in the days 
of Henry Plantagenet, had been as a thorn in the side of its 
English neighbor. But it was the unjust and cruel policy of 
the conqueror which had made it so. On every fresh con- 
quest the fair domains of Ireland were wrested from the 
native owner, and bestowed upon the foreign lord. The new 
proprietor, instead of dwelling on his estate, caring for his 
tenantry, and becoming Irish in his sympathies and interests, 
returned to England, leaving an agent to collect rents and 
raise as much money as he could from the estate. These 
agents oppressed the peasantry, and thus awakened a feeling 
of hostility towards the absent proprietor. Then, too, there 
lingered in the land a great number of the old disinherited 
families, who kept up in the minds of their former dependants 



GEORGE III. 349 

a feeling of indignation against the Saxon invaders. When 
the Reformation took place, England became Protestant, whilst 
Ireland adhered to the Romish Church. Thus was added the 
bitter element of religious animosity to the causes of hatred 
which already existed. 

In the year 1791, " The Society of United Irishmen" was 
established. They declared themselves " a union of Irishmen 
of every religious persuasion, in order to obtain a complete 
reform of the legislature, founded on the principles of civil, 
political, and religious liberty/' To this association belonged 
many who were animated by pure and ardent patriotism, and 
many among them were Protestants. The majority of the 
Protestants in Ireland, however, especially of the lower orders, 
united in an opposing society, called " Orangemen," for the 
upholding of Protestant and English supremacy Both asso- 
ciations committed acts of violence and depredation, spreading 
disorder and misery throughout Ireland. 

On the breaking out of the French Revolution, the Irish, 
excited by hopes of throwing off the galling yoke of England, 
listened eagerly to French offers of assistance. The views of 
the " Society of United Irishmen" now changed materially. 
They sought to sever the national connection with England, 
to establish a republic, restore the Romish religion, and give 
back to the disinherited Celt his long-forfeited lands. Two 
expeditions from France, intended for the invasion of Ireland, 
were destroyed : the first in 1796, by a storm in Bantry Bay, 
and the second before it had left the shores of France, by the 
victory of Camperdown. In Ireland, however, a formidable 
insurrection broke out, and two hundred and fifty thousand 
men were in arms. The leaders were discovered and seized, 
and after a few encounters in the county of Wexford, the 
insurgents laid down their arms, and submitted to 

1798, ° ■ ' 

the government. 
To reconcile, if possible, the divided interests of England 
and Ireland, to prevent the invasion of the latter island by 
France, and to put an end to the frightful disorders pre- 
vailing there, the English government proposed to unite the 
30 



350 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

two countries under one parliament. This measure met with 
violent opposition x>n the part of the great body of the Irish 
people. Curran and Grattan, the most eloquent orators of 
their day, pleaded earnestly against it, as subversive of the 
dignity and liberty of their country. The bill for the union, 
which had passed in the English parliament, was agreed to in 
the Irish House of Lords, and the Commons were won over by 
bribery. 

Thus, in the last year of the century, the union of England 
and Ireland was effected. The Irish parliament ceased to 
exist, and twenty-eight peers and one hundred commoners 
represent that kingdom in the national council of the realm 
Henceforth the British Isles assumed the title of " The 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." 

Questions — Relate the events which had taken place in France 
from 1789-93. — Repeat the views expressed by Burke on the French 
Revolution. — Describe the party which favored this cause. — "What 
remonstrances were made to France by the English government ? — 
"When and by whom was war declared? — What naval victory was 
gained in 1794? — Describe the condition of the English navy. — 
Give an account of the mutiny in the Channel fleet. — Describe the 
mutiny at the Nore. — How did the danger terminate ? 

Describe the battle of St. Vincent, — That of Camperdown. — "Who 
invaded Egypt? — "With what object? — Relate the efforts of Nelson to 
find the French. — Describe the battle of Aboukir. — Relate the story 
of Casabtanca. — State the result of the battle. — Describe Nelson's 
conduct. — Give some account of the volunteer system. — What were 
Napoleon's designs and operations towards the close of 1798? — 
Describe the siege and relief of Acre. — Describe Napoleon's defeat 
and its consequences. 

State the treatment which Ireland for centuries had experienced 
from England. — When was the " Society of United Irishmen" found- 
ed? — What objects did it profess? — Describe the rival society. — 
What hopes were excited in Ireland, by the French Revolution ? — 
What now became the designs of " The United Irishmen?" — Men- 
tion the fate of the French expeditions to Ireland. — What was the 
result of the insurrection of 1798 ? — What proposition was made by 
the English government? — Relate the history and final result of 
this bill. — What is henceforth the proper designation of the British 
Islands ? 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 351 

CHAPTER LIX. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

RELIGION — LITERATURE — DISTINGUISHED WRITERS. 

During no period perhaps since the Reformation was 
'• pure and undefiled" religion at so low an ebb as during the 
first half of the eighteenth century. The clergy of the 
Established Church were in many instances worldly-minded 
men, devoted to fox-hunting and the pleasures of the table. 
Among the dissenters great coldness and formality prevailed, 
and the laity generally, as might be expected, "when no man 
cared for their souls," were corrupt in their principles and 
vicious in their lives. 

From this low estate, religion was revived in England, by 
the preaching of two remarkable men — George Whitfield and 
John Wesley. The movement begun by them soon exerted 
an awakening and salutary influence upon the Established 
Church. 

Whitfield and W r esley had been members of the same college 
at the University of Oxford, and were distinguished whilst 
there for purity of morals and for their religious character. 
They, with a few other kindred spirits, were so strict and 
regular in the observance of religious duties, that they ac- 
quired the nickname of " Methodists," an appellation which 
was subsequently adopted by the society of which they were 
the founders. They visited America, where Wesley became 
much impressed by the religious establishments of the Mora- 
vians who had settled in G-eorgia. Whitfield went to New 
England, became acquainted with the views of the Puritans, 
and adopted many of their doctrines. 

As early as 1739, Whitfield began the practice of preaching 
in the open air. At Bristol the colliers, drawn from the dark 
and dismal coal-pits, gathered round him, under the blue 
canopy of heaven, sometimes to the number of twenty thou- 



352 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

sand. Whitfield afterwards preached in the vicinity of Lon- 
don, at Moorfields, at Kennington Common, and Blackheath, 
to congregations of forty thousand. 

Lesley, too, on his return from America, finding the 
churches of the Establishment closed against him, and no 
room sufficiently large to hold those who flocked to his ser- 
vices, " determined to do the same thing in England which" 
he " had often done in a warmer climate — namely, to preach 
in the open air." At first he hesitated about adopting this 
course, but afterwards concluded that " our Lord's sermon 
on the mount was a pretty remarkable precedent for field- 
preaching," and one that he might safely follow. 

Wesley was a clergyman of the church of England, and 
became greatly displeased on learning that Thomas Maxfield, 
a layman whom he had employed to watch over and pray with 
his congregation at Moorfields, whilst he was ministering 
elsewhere, had commenced preaching. Returning hastily to 
London, Wesley exclaimed to his mother: "So, Thomas Max- 
field is turned preacher, I find I" His mother in reply told 
him, it was the Lord's work, and begged him not to oppose it. 
Wesley, after hearing Maxfield, became convinced that good 
might be done in this way, and consented that laymen should 
preach, but not administer the sacraments. Thus originated 
the practice of lay-preaching. 

Another peculiarity of the Methodists, that of classes and 
class-leaders, arose from the following circumstance : on at- 
tempting to raise money to build a meeting-house, the poverty 
of the brethren was found to be a serious obstacle. At length 
one said : " Put eleven of the poorest with me, — I will call on 
each of them weekly, and if they give nothing, I will give for 
them as well as for myself." This gave rise to the division 
of the brethren into classes, with a leader, who, in course of 
time, instead of calling on each member at his own house, 
assembled them together weekly, for the purposes of mutual 
prayer, exhortation, and supervision. 

Wesley, although a clergyman of the Establishment, found 
himself denied the church pulpits, on account of his pecu- 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 353 

liarities. This circumstance originated itinerancy, another 
distinguishing feature of Methodism. Wesley u and his 
brethren wandered into every section of England, from the 
Northumbrian moorlands to the innermost depths of the Cor- 
nish mines, in the most tumultuous cities, and in the most 
unfrequented hamlets." At Wesley's death, there were 
seventy-one thousand Methodists in England, and forty-eight 
thousand in America. 

Whitfield, aided by the influence of Selina, Countess of 
Huntingdon, awakened an interest among the higher circles 
of society, whilst the Methodism of Wesley found its warmest 
welcome among the working classes. It was truly, in many 
respects, what it has often been called, " the poor man's 
religion." The powerful and eloquent preaching of these 
men, together with the labors of Watts, Doddridge, and 
others, was the means, in God's hand, of producing a purer 
and higher tone of religion throughout England, and we soon 
find in the annals of its church history, such men as Fletcher, 
the good vicar of Madeley, Romaine, the elder Yenn, John 
Newton, and Rowland Hill. 

At the close of the preceding century laws extremely severe 
had been passed against the Roman Catholics. A reward of 
one hundred pounds was offered to any one apprehending a 
priest in the act of saying mass, or exercising any other office 
of religion within the realm. No Roman Catholic was allowed 
to keep a school, or in any way to employ himself in the edu- 
cation of youth. If a Roman Catholic youth, on attaining 
the age of eighteen, should refuse to abjure his religion, he 
was liable to be disinherited, and the next of kin, being a 
Protestant, might seize his property. 

These oppressive laws, although not always strictly enforced, 
gave rise to much suffering among a large population in the 
realm, and especially in the sister kingdom of Ireland. Nearly 
a hundred years, however, passed before they were rescinded 
by the passage of the first Catholic Relief Bill. This bill, 
passed in 1778, allowed Roman Catholics to engage in educa- 
tion without being liable to imprisonment, to exercise the 
30* Z 



354 IlISTCfRY OF ENGLAND. 

rites of their religion, and to enjoy their property. They 
were still debarred the right of holding any civil office, and 
many other privileges of English subjects. 

The concessions of the Relief Bill, limited as they were, 
met with some opposition in England, and when it was pro- 
posed to extend them to Scotland, the most tumultuous 
excitement broke out in that country. A society was formed 
called "The Protestant Association," the object of which was 
to oppose all relief to Roman Catholics. The president was 
Lord George Gordon, a fanatical nobleman, who is supposed, 
from some of his extravagances, to have been insane. The 
" Protestant Association" soon extended to England, and an 
immense body of men, animated by a spirit of bitter intoler- 
ance, ranged themselves under the command of Lord George. 

On the 2d of June, 1780, sixty thousand members of this 
association assembled in St. George's Fields, and thence pro- 
ceeded through London to the parliament house, bearing a 
petition, signed," it is said, with names or marks of one hun- 
dred and twenty thousand Protestants. Entering the house, 
the rabble made the old hall of Westminster ring with their 
shouts of " No Popery !" " No Popery !" 

The riots continued during the week from the 2d to the 
9th of June, with ever-increasing violence. On the night of 
the 7th, thirty-six fires blazed in different parts of the city, 
whilst the uproar of the mob and the firing of the military 
added to the terror of the scene. At length, by armed force, 
the rioters were subdued, but not before five hundred lives 
had been lost, and an immense amount of property destroyed. 

Lord Mansfield's beautiful mansion and valuable law-library 
fell a sacrifice to the fury of the mob. When this learned 
and aged judge pleaded, a few days later, the lawfulness of 
employing the military against the rioters, he made a slight 
but touching allusion to his own great loss. "I have founded 
my opinion without consulting my books," said he ; adding, 
" Indeed, I have no books to consult." These riots, and the 
excited state of feeling in Scotland, prevented the extension 
of the Relief Bill to that country. 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 355 

The same period which witnessed so low a state of religion 
and morality in England, exhibited a corresponding want of a 
pure and ennobling literature. To supply this want, and to 
diffuse a more refined and Christian tone throughout society, 
was the aim of those benefactors of literature, the English 
essayists. They were also the founders of periodical litera- 
ture, their essays being issued in small tri-weekly sheets, at 
the cost of a penny each. These papers became extremely 
popular, and, reproving in a gentle but lively manner the 
follies and extravagances of fashionable life, soon produced a 
most happy effect in improving the manners of the age. 
The first of these papers, called "The Tatler," was established 
by Sir Richard Steele. The most celebrated is " The Spec- 
tator/' which received its most valuable and beautiful contri- 
butions from the pen of Addison. 

Among "the wits of Queen Anne's reign," Jonathan Swift, 
the dean of St. Patrick's, holds perhaps the first rank as a 
prose writer. He is best known as the author of that famous 
satire, " Gulliver's Travels." Although an original and power- 
ful writer, his personal character was far from attractive. 
The bitterness, almost cruelty, of his satirical writings, indi- 
cate the heartlessness of the man. The last nine years of his 
life were passed in a state of hopeless insanity. 

In' the early part of the century, the poet Pope, in his 
beautiful villa of Twickenham, assembled around him the 
most brilliant wits of his day. There gathered Swift, Gay, 
Arbuthnot, Parnell, and Prior. To Pope we are indebted for 
the first English translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. 
He wrote many elegant and celebrated poems, but, like Swift, 
sullied the genius with which he was gifted, by employing it 
in bitter satires against his enemies There were other poets 
of this age whose writings are scarcely less beautiful than 
Pope's, whilst their personal characters were far more winning. 
Young, the author of "Night Thoughts;" Thomson, who has 
given us his much-admired poem of "The Seasons;" and 
Gray, whose beautiful " Elegy in a Country Churchyard" 
is so familiar to all, were cotemporaries. In the reign of 



356 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

George III. lived Goldsmith, the author of " The Traveller" 
and " The Deserted Village," and that immortal prose work, 
" The Vicar of Wakefield." With the century closed the 
life of a poet, dear to the hearts and homes of all, — Cowper, 
the sweet Muse of Olney. His " Task," " Table-Talk," the 
" Lines to his Mother's Picture," and his hymns, will charm 
as long as there are found hearts to delight in pure and 
natural poetry. 

"Nor ever shall lie be in praise 
By wise and good forsaken ; 
Named softly as the household name 
Of one whom God hath taken." 

The eighteenth century gave rise to a new species of com- 
position, that of prose fiction or novels. The first writer in 
this style was Daniel Defoe, the author of the well-known 
story of " Robinson Crusoe." To him succeeded more de- 
cided novelists, such as Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and 
Sterne. All these writers partook of the artificial character 
of the age in which they lived, and their works, though read 
with delight then, would scarcely interest the present genera- 
tion, whilst the coarseness which is found in many of them, 
would repel the more refined taste of the readers of our day. 

Among the prose writers of this period stand the names of 
some of our greatest historians. Hume, whose well-written 
"History of England" has long continued a standard work; 
Robertson, who wrote a celebrated " History of the Reign of 
the Emperor Charles V.;" and Gibbon, the brilliant author of 
the " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." It is painful 
to record that the religious infidelity of two of these historians, 
Hume and Gibbon, casts a dark shadow over their works, and 
makes the reader feel that there is in them a painful lack of 
sympathy. with that which is, above all, the best part of a 
people's history, — its Christian character; — the "righteous- 
ness" which " exalteth a nation." 

Among the productions of this century, may be named the 
curious literary impostures of Macpherson and Chatterton, 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. oO/ 

and also the celebrated anonymous "Letters of Junius." 
Macpherson, a Scotchman, published, in the year 1760, a 
volume called the " Poems of Ossian," which he pretended 
was a prose translation of ancient Gaelic poetry, written as 
far back as the fourth or fifth century of the Christian era. 
A violent controversy as to the authenticity of these poems 
arose among the learned men of Scotland and England, and 
it was only at the end of a long and critical investigation that 
they were pronounced to be forgeries. Chatterton, a mere 
boy of sixteen, the son of a sexton at Bristol, deceived, for a 
long time, the literary world, by the Rowley Poems. He 
pretended to have found the manuscript in an old chest in 
the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, at Bristol, deposited there 
by a priest named Thomas Rowleie, in the fifteenth century. 
They were in fact his own compositions, but so admirably had 
this "marvellous boy" imitated the style of a past age, that 
even the acutest critics for a time believed them to belong to 
the century to which their young author attributed them. 
The " Letters of Junius" were powerful political writings, 
which, appearing anonymously, and being full of point and 
sarcasm, created a great excitement in the political world. 
Their probable author was Sir Philip Francis. 

Undoubtedly the greatest literary hero of his age, whether 
considered as an essayist, a moralist, a biographer, or as the 
compiler of the celebrated " Dictionary of the English Lan- 
guage," is Dr. Samuel Johnson — the sage of Lichfield. As a 
poet, his satires, especially the one entitled "Vanity of Human 
Wishes," written in imitation of the Latin poet Juvenal, have 
placed him in a high rank. His " Lives of the Poets" belongs 
to the classic literature of England, but the most glorious 
monument of his literary fame is his Dictionary. In this 
great work he was occupied only seven years, an incredibly 
short period, when we consider the amount of research and 
labor required, for such a task on the part of a single scholar. 

Blackstone's valuable " Commentaries on the Laws of Eng- 
land" were published in the year 1765. In a century, the 
literary annals of which are so full, we can do no more than 



358 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



cull a few names here and there, leaving the youthful student 
to become acquainted with the valuable literature of this age, 
as his sphere of knowledge enlarges. We must not, however, 
quite omit a mention of the female writers, whose works were 
the delight of their own day, and many of which have proved 
a precious legacy to succeeding generations. There was Miss 
Burney, afterwards Madame D'Arblay, who wrote the agree- 
able and celebrated novels, "Evelina," and "Cecilia;" the 
learned Greek scholar, Elizabeth Carter; Mrs. Barbauld, 
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and the crowning glory of 
female authorship, Hannah More. In her pleasant home at 
Cowslip Green, and later at Barley Wood, this good and 
gifted woman drew around her the best and most accom- 
plished men and women of her day. The great Dr. Johnson, 
often rough and uncouth in his manners to others, was ever 
gentle and affectionate towards Hannah More. G-arrick the 
dramatist, Horace Walpole, Newton, Wilberforce, and Sir 
Joshua Reynolds, were all numbered among her friends. 

When the principles of the French Revolution were spread- 
ing throughout England, creating discontent in many an 
artisan's hamlet anu- TiLsbandman's cottage, Hannah More 
wrote " Will Chip's Village Politics." The sound sense and 
lively wit of this little tract soon made its influence felt 
throughout the land. il Will Chip, with no more, as it were, 
than a pb'n^;, and a few smooth stones, ventured forth to meet 
the great Goliath of the times." Other tracts followed, and 
the pages of the " Cheap Repository," as the whole collection 
was called, fostered a spirit of contentment and piety, which 
was an inestimable blessing to England in those days. 

Questions — What was the state of religion during the first half 
of the eighteenth century ? — Through the influence of what two 
preachers was religion revived in England ? — Give briefly some ac- 
count of each of these men. — What led Wesley to adopt the practice 
of street preaching? — State the incident which gave rise to lay- 
preaching. — What circumstance originated class meetings ? 

Against what religious sect did severe laws exist during this 
period? — When and by what act were they repealed? — Give the 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 359 

history of "The Protestant Association." — Repeat the anecdote of 
Lord Mansfield. 

What was the object of the English essayists who wrote in this 
age ? — In what form did these essays appear ? — Name and describe 
the author of "Gulliver's Travels." — Name some of the poetical 
works written during this period, and give their authors. — Who 
wrote " Robinson Crusoe?" — What novelists lived in the eighteenth 
century? — What famous historians? — What were the "Letters of 
Junius ?" — What is remarked of Dr. Johnson ? — What celebrated 
law book was published in this century ? — Name some of the female 
writers of this time. 



CHAPTER LX. 

CONDITION OF ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

THE MINISTRY — OLD AND NEW STYLE — ARCHITECTURE — PAINTING — MUSIC 
— MANUFACTURES — TRAVELLING — AGRICULTURE — COMMERCE — MANNERS 
AND CUSTOMS — AMUSEMENTS. 

Towards the close of the preceding century the king's 
chief officer, who was the lord treasurer, received the name 
of premier, or prime minister. In the course of time, this 
minister became the first executive officer in the realm. By 
him all the principal departments of government are filled. 
The men at the head of these departments, with tne premier, 
are called " the ministry," and to them the administration of 
public affairs is intrusted. 

Towards the close of this century, that important change 
in the method of reckoning time, known as "the New Style," 
was introduced into England. In " the Old Style/' which 
had been used since the days of Julius Caesar, there was 
found a difference between the real and apparent year, 
amounting, during the lapse of ages, to some ten or eleven 
days. An act of parliament passed in 1752, provided that 
the latter number of days should be left out of the calendar, 
the 3d of September being reckoned as the 14th. This 



360 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

alteration excited, at first, a great commotion among the 
common people. They declared that it was equivalent to 
shortening the period of their natural lives by that amount 
of time ; mobs carried through the streets, placards, on which 
were inscribed : " Give us back our eleven days !" 

On the 25th of February, 1723, Sir Christopher Wren closed 
his long and useful career. At the advanced age of ninety- 
one, this great architect was laid in his tomb in the crypt of 
St. Paul's Church. On a tablet is the following expressive 
epitaph : " Lector, si monumentum requiris, circurnspice." 
" Reader, if you would inquire for my monument, look around 
you." To Wren succeeded Vanbrugh, the most magnificent 
monument of whose fame is Blenheim House — the palace 
which a grateful nation bestowed on John, Duke of Marl- 
borough, for his victories on the continent. In the tenth 
year of Queen Anne's reign, an order for the building of fifty 
new churches in London and its neighborhood, gave an 
impulse to architecture, and produced many beautiful edifices. 

During the early part of the century, flourished Sir Godfrey 
Kneller, the court painter of Queen Anne's reign. Ten years 
after Kneller's death, appeared Hogarth, of whose original 
and unrivalled genius his country may well be proud. His 
reputation first began as an engraver, but his " pictured 
morals," the vivid and forcible representations of real life 
depicted on his canvas, have secured his greatest and most 
wide-spread fame. There are few who have not enjoyed the 
inimitable humor of " The Enraged Musician " Hogarth 
died in 1764. Four years later was founded " The Royal 
Academy of Arts." Its first president was Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds, who may be called the founder of the English school 
of painters. It was on the occasion of Reynolds's inaugu- 
ration as president of the Royal Academy, that George III., 
himself a liberal patron of the fine arts, conferred on the 
distinguished painter the honor of knighthood. Among the 
founders of the Royal Academy were West, Wilson, and 
Gainsborough, all honored names in the history of art. West 
was an American by birth. 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 361 

To the sister-art of music, in nearly every department, new 
charms were added, and this century is particularly rich in 
beautiful collections of church music. The Oratorio, that 
noble triumph of musical genius, was brought out in the year 
1720, by Frederick Handel, a G-erman by birth, but who made 
England the country of his adoption. The Italian Opera was 
introduced early in the century, but no English production 
was performed until the year 1727, when Gay's composition, 
" The Beggars' Opera," was brought out at Drury Lane 
Theatre, with great success. 

In the industrial arts this period was one of wonderful 
progress. Improvements were made in the production of 
nearly every useful article of life. Hitherto the woollen 
manufacture had been the one of greatest importance. Says 
an English writer in 1694: "Nine parts in ten of our ex- 
ported commodities doth come from the sheep's back, and 
from hence alone is the spring of our riches." We now 
enter upon a century in which this statement ceases to be 
true, and the cotton manufacture becomes the great source of 
British wealth. As the cotton yarn was spun by hand, great 
difficulty had been experienced in getting a sufficient supply 
for the purposes of weaving. The little that could be pro- 
cured from the most industrious spinners was used only in the 
woof, it not being strong enough for the warp of any fabric. 
About the year 1764, James Hargreaves invented the spin- 
ning-jenny, which spun first eight, and soon twice that number 
of threads at a time. The ignorant spinners, fearing their 
occupation would be gone if the fast-spinning jennies took 
the place of hand labor, destroyed these useful machines 
wherever they could find them. 

A few years later Sir Richard Arkwright, at first a poor 
barber, gave to the world his invaluable invention of spinning 
by rollers. In this machine the cotton is drawn swiftly and 
carefully between a pair of rollers, thus reducing it to a 
coarse thread. This thread being drawn between a second 
set of rollers, revolving more quickly than the first, is made 
31 



362 history or England. 

proportionably finer ; a third part of the machine twists the 
threads as they advance, and thus by this system of artificial 
thumbs and fingers, the cotton yarn is supplied not only in 
sufficient quantity for the weaver's use, but also of so strong a 
fibre that he need no longer hesitate to employ it for the warp 
as well as the woof of his manufacture. Cromford, on the 
river Derwent, has the honor of being "the nursing-place of 
the factory opulence and power of Great Britain." There, in 
1771, Arkwright erected the first spinning-wheel worked by 
water-power. 

But another power was soon to be applied to cotton spin- 
ning, which was immeasurably to increase the value of this 
manufacture. This was the steam-engine, invented by James 
Watt, and first used in the cotton factories in 1785. The silk 
manufacture increased and improved greatly, especially when 
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes had brought many 
skilful French artisans into England. Early in this century 
the Silk Weavers' Company reported the manufacture in 
England as twenty times greater in extent than in the year 
1664, and the silk equal in quality to that imported from 
France. Until the year 1715 the weavers were dependent 
upon Italy for their supply of silk thread, in which country 
the machinery for its manufacture had been brought to great 
perfection. In the above-named year an English silk mer- 
chant went to Italy, determined to learn the secret of this 
superior machinery. After much difficulty he obtained em- 
ployment in an humble capacity in one of the Italian mills. 
Pleading great destitution, he was permitted to sleep in the 
work-room. Here he employed his nights in making draw- 
ings of the machinery. After obtaining the requisite infor- 
mation, he left his Italian employers, returned to England, 
and in 1719, established at Derby, in connection with his 
brothers, the first English silk-factory. 

In the manufacture of porcelain and earthenware, the most 
useful discoveries and improvements were made during the 
course of this century. In 1763, Wedgewood produced the 
beautiful article known as queensware. It was of a delicate 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 363 

cream color, coated with a fine and durable glazing, and so 
cheap that in a very short time it came into universal use. 

The manufacture of cutlery had been established at Shef- 
field as early as the fourteenth century. In 1761, there were 
forty thousand persons employed in the making of hardware. 
At Birmingham, too, fifty thousand were busy in every variety 
of steel and iron manufacture. During this century many 
large and valuable iron works were established in England, 
which were greatly aided by the vast improvements made in 
machinery, especially by the invention of the steam-engine. 
The coal-mines were greatly indebted to this valuable agent 
for their more effective and extended working. 

Travelling, even as late as the middle of the eighteenth 
century, presented none of those facilities which now render 
the tour of England a journey of pleasure. Turnpikes had 
been introduced, but they were little used, and seldom or 
never kept in good repair. From the report of a tourist who 
wrote in 1770, there seems to have existed no idea of the 
proper construction of a road. " The turnpikes," he ex- 
claims, " as they have the assurance to call them, and the 
hardiness to make one pay for," are " mere rocky lanes full 
of hugeous stones as big as one's head, and abominable holes." 
The same traveller complains of the ruts being four feet deep, 
flooded with mud, and the roads in some places so narrow 
that a mouse cannot pass by any carriage. The method of 
transportation by canals was introduced about the middle of 
this century. • The first was the Bridge water Canal, con- 
structed in 1755 by the Duke of Bridgewater, for the purpose 
of carrying coals from the mines at Worsley to Manchester. 
This new and easy mode of conveyance produced so great a 
reduction in the charge of transportation of goods, that it 
soon obtained the preference over land carriage. Brindley, 
the architect of the earliest canals in Great Britain, cut 
through a hill in Staffordshire a tunnel nearly three thousand 
yards in length. This was on the Trent and Mersey, or 
Grand Trunk Canal. It was considered a wonderful achieve- 
ment in those days. 



364 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Agriculture became much improved. Very beautiful gar- 
dens were laid out, and even the cottager's plot of ground 
produced a quantity and variety of vegetables unknown in 
former times. The potato was cultivated, and before the 
close of the century became a common article of food. In 
1717, greenhouses, for the raising of tropical fruits and 
flowers, were introduced into England. Hitherto the green- 
house had only been used for the protection of delicate plants 
during the winter. 

The foreign commerce of Great Britain brought stores 
of wealth to her treasury. Her trade with the American 
colonies, valuable as it had been before their independence, 
became still more so after that event. Tobacco, rice, and 
other valuable imports were brought from the United States, 
whilst the English West Indies afforded large supplies of 
sugar, and Honduras furnished mahogany and logwood. The 
East India trade became yearly more extended and more 
profitable, and that carried on with the countries of Europe, 
especially with Holland, produced a constant revenue. To 
the merchantman, and indeed to every mariner, one work of 
this century will ever be acknowledged with gratitude — the 
Eddystone Lighthouse, erected by Smeaton in 1755. Pre- 
vious to this date two lighthouses had been erected on the 
dangerous rocks which line the coast of Hampshire. Both 
had been destroyed — the one by the violence of the elements, 
and the other by fire. But Smeaton's structure of stone, 
erected on the same spot, has now stood for more than a 
century, defying the winds and waves, and proving a beacon 
and a blessing to the countless vessels that navigate the 
English Channel. 

The state of society in England before the accession of 
Greorge III., was disgraceful in the extreme. It seems in- 
credible to the more moral and refined taste of our own day, 
that such vices and frivolous pursuits could have existed 
among the higher classes of society, as those of which the 
essayists complain. It was thought sufficient for a fashion- 
able lady if she could barely read and write ; — be able to pen 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 365 

a short letter without a great deal of misspelling, understand 
enough arithmetic to answer the purposes of the card-table, 
and dancing sufficient to exhibit in the assemblies called, 
most characteristically, routs, drums, and hurricanes. Her 
days and nights were spent in a career of dissipation. The 
toilette occupied a large part of every morning, after which 
she dashed over the city on a round of visiting, in a coach with 
four laced and powdered footmen behind it. In these visits 
all the gossip and scandal of the day were talked over. 

Even the outward observances of religion were neglected. 
If a woman of fashion ever went to church, it was only occa- 
sionally of an afternoon, to display her dress, see frivolous 
companions, and " deal curtsies from her pew." Generally, 
however, the sacred day was spent in drives on the public 
parks, and its evenings in playing at cards. 

A writer in the Pictorial History, describing a woman of 
these days, says : " She patronized French milliners, French 
hair-dressers, and Italian opera-singers ; she loved tall footmen 
and turbaned negro footboys ; she doted upon monkeys, paro- 
quets, and lap-dogs; was a perfect critic in old china and 
Indian trinkets ; and could not exist without a raffle or a sale." 
It is to this passion for old china that the poet Pope probably 
alludes, in his unworthy Essay on Woman, when he describes 
his perfect character as 

"Mistress of herself though china fall." 

The day spent as above described, necessarily encroached 
upon the hours which should have been given to sleep. 
Sometimes these votaries of fashion would not return to their 
homes before two o'clock in the morning, although the regular 
hour for bed, among the sober portion of the community, was 
eleven. The night was divided between the gaming-table and 
the opera. Loo and faro were the names of two favorite games 
of cards, at which immense sums were lost and won. We hear 
of the Princess Amelia, a daughter of George II., playing till 
midnight at loo, and of Charles Fox, the famous orator, losing 
31* 



366 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

five hundred pounds per hour at a game of hazard, which 
lasted twenty-two hours. 

Such being the character of the women of that day, we 
shall not look for a much higher standard in that of the 
opposite sex. Addison's two admirable papers in the Specta- 
tor, called ''Dissection of a Beau's Head," and "A Coquette's 
Heart/' give a fair idea of the accomplishments, both mental 
and moral, of both sexes. The lower classes copied the vices 
of their superiors — dishonesty, drunkenness, and impudence 
prevailed among them to an astonishing extent. The drink- 
ing of ardent spirits, and especially of gin, was so common, 
that the streets of London were filled with wretched drunk- 
ards, often lying insensible upon the pavement, and only 
removed by the charity of some passer-by from the danger 
of being run over. 

In this century we lose all traces of the feudal no Die 
surrounded by his retinue of dependants. The nobility now 
resided near the court, and depended upon court influence for 
their importance, rather than upon a host of retainers. The 
country gentleman still existed, and in his hospitable mansion 
lingered those customs and festivals which had been practised 
in the days of the Stuarts. The admirable picture which 
Addison has given in the Spectator of Sir Roger de Coverley, 
is a perfect representation of the sentiments and life of a 
country gentleman of the eighteenth century. Many of 
these rustic squires passed their lives in the pleasures of the 
chase. Their powers of body and mind were devoted to fox- 
hunting Their only ambition was to become renowned as 
sportsmen, and to have their halls adorned with trophies 
of the chase. The country ladies, cut off by the badness 
of the roads from their frivolous sisters of the metropolis, 
spent their days in more useful and innocent employments. 
They devoted themselves to cookery, preparing cordials and 
medicines for the sick, visiting their tenantry, and performing 
in as perfect a manner as their limited intelligence would 
enable them to do, the duties of a Lady Bountiful. 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 367 

The most striking peculiarities in the dress of this period 
were the cocked hats, powdered wigs, and gold-laced scarlet 
coats of the men, and the hoops, patches, flowered brocades, 
and powdered hair of the women. The fashion of wearing 
patches on the face had been introduced towards the close of 
the preceding century, but was at its height in the reign of 
Queen Anne. The ladies of her day were apt to be violent 
politicians, and the side which they took, whether Whig or 
Tory, was made known by the side of the face on which they 
wore the patches. In the year 1748, George II. saw the 
Duchess of Bedford in a riding habit of blue faced with 
white. The beauty of the contrasted colors so struck the 
fancy of his majesty, that he ordered them to be adopted for 
the uniform of the navy. 

With regard to furniture, vast improvements took place. 
Mahogany was discovered to be a beautiful material for 
cabinet furniture, and came by degrees into general use- 
Chinese porcelain and Japan ware were much valued, and 
jars, vases, cabinets, and every imaginable article of orna- 
ment were made of them. The chairs, tables, bedsteads, 
cabinets, &c, of this period were so beautifully wrought and 
durably made, that this old-fashioned furniture is considered 
far more valuable than that of the present day. About the 
middle of the century, carpet making was begun at Kidder- 
minster, and from that time the floors of all the better class 
of houses were furnished with this luxury. 

Public gardens were favorite places of amusement. The 
most noted of these were Ranelagh and Vauxhall. The 
grounds were laid out in beautiful walks, ornamented with 
shade-trees, artificial cascades, and fountains. The trees were 
hung at night with lamps, and bands of music played the 
beautiful compositions of Handel. Summer-houses and bowers 
were dispersed over the grounds, and fireworks frequently en- 
livened the scene. For nearly fifty years crowds gathered in 
Ranelagh Gardens every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 
evenings, to listen to the fine compositions of Handel, or to 



368 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the lighter music of the popular songs and ballads of the 
day. 

A very fashionable place of amusement among the nobility 
was Almack's, a celebrated club-house opened in 176&. In 
its assembly room were given some of the most magnificent 
balls of that day. The aristocracy made very splendid and 
expensive entertainments, especially on royal birthdays, and 
at marriages, christenings, &c. The principal amusements at 
these gatherings were dice, cards, dancing, music, and some- 
times fireworks. 

Watering-places were extremely fashionable. Bath was the 
chief place of resort for the nobility, whilst Tunbridge and 
Epsom attracted the families of the wealthy Londoners and 
country gentry. Among the middle classes, puppet shows, 
the exhibitions of Punch, bowls, foot-ball, prize fighting, and 
above all, the charms of a Bartholomew Fair, were the grand 
sources of amusement. This fair was held annually in Lon- 
don, and every description of diversion was devised to allure 
and delight the people. For about a fortnight a scene of 
uproarious merriment was kept up, which greatly disturbed 
the tranquillity of every quiet-loving citizen. In the country, 
shooting, fishing, and fox-hunting were the absorbing amuse- 
ments of the men, whilst county and subscription balls, and 
occasional fairs, were sources of recreation to their wives and 
daughters. The annual horse-races at Epsom and New- 
market, presented great attractions to the citizens as well as 
to the country gentry. 

After the accession of George III., a better influence 
gradually gained ground among the upper classes of society. 
More rational and refined amusements took the place of the 
boisterous merriment which had prevailed since the days of 
the Restoration. Concerts, lectures, and assemblies of lite- 
rary people became fashionable. Among the latter were the 
famous Blue Stocking Clubs, which acquired their singular 
name from the circumstance that one of their chief orna- 
ments, a gentleman of rare conversational powers, always 



ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 369 

wore stockings of that color. When he absented himself, his 
loss was so sensibly felt by the rest of the company, that they 
were wont to say : " We can do nothing without the blue 
stockings/' 

Questions. — Describe the position of the prime minister. — What 
do you understand as to time by the terms Old and New Style? — 
What gave an impulse to architecture in Queen Anne's reign? — 
Name the most distinguished painters of this period. 

What manufacture became the source of great wealth? — Name 
some of the inventions which gave importance to this manufacture. 
— Relate the account given of the silk manufacture. — By what 
means was the art of making the silk thread introduced into Eng- 
land ? — What is said of the Sheffield manufactures ?— Of those at 
Birmingham ? — What branches of industry were especially benefited 
by the discovery of steam power ? 

Describe the highways of this time. — When were canals first used ? 
— Repeat the account given of agriculture, gardening, and green- 
houses. —Describe the accomplishments necessary to a fashionable 
woman during this period. — Describe the condition of the lower 
classes. — Describe the manner of life of the country gentlemen of 
this period. — In what way did country ladies pass their time ? — 
Mention the striking peculiarities in the dress of these times. — 
What incident gave rise to the naval uniform ? — Name some of the 
amusements of the eighteenth century. — State the origin of the 
appellation, "Blue Stocking." 



370 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



PART XL 

ENGLAND DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 

GEORGE III.— GEORGE IV.— WILLIAM IV.— VICTORIA. 
A. D. 1800—1860. 

"That name which scattered by disastrous blare 
All Europe's bound-lines drawn afresh in blood. 
Napoleon — from the Russias west to Spain ! 

And Austria trembled — till we heard her chain." 

E. B. Browning. 



CHAPTER LXI 

GEORGE III. — THE LAST TWENTY YEARS OP HIS REIGN. 

THE ARMED NEUTRALITY — TRAFALGAR — PENINSULAR WAR — WATERLOO — 
WAR WITH AMERICA — BARBARY PIRATES. 

At the opening of this century a confederacy hostile to 
the commercial interests of Great Britain was entered into 
by the northern powers of Europe. The governments of 
Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, instigated by France, com- 
mitted acts of hostility, and showed a determination to make 
England yield her naval supremacy. Resolved to strike a 
blow against the " Armed Neutrality," as this con- 

1801. f . . 

federation of her enemies was called, Great Britain 
sent a fleet to the Baltic. An envoy was dispatched to 
Copenhagen to obtain by negotiation, if possible, the demands 
of the British government. He was unsuccessful however, 
and the English fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir Hyde 
Parker and Lord Nelson, advanced to the attack of the capital. 



GEORGE III. 371 

On the morning of the 30th of March, eighteen English 
ships of the line, and a number of smaller vessels, entered 
the narrow sound which separates Denmark and Sweden. 
Before them frowned the battlements of the three old 
fortresses of Helsinborg, Cronenberg, and Elsinore, while 
beyond, the stately capitol of Copenhagen rose proudly from 
the water's edge. The shore was lined with multitudes who 
beheld the novel spectacle of a fleet bearing past the castle 
of Elsinore without lowering its topsails to the flag of Den- 
mark. All the patriotism and valor of the land had rallied 
to defend its shores. Ramparts were raised and manned with 
the bravest hearts; a formidable line of ships, floating bat- 
teries, and gunboats were provided, and the buoys were 
removed from a channel famous for its shoals and sand-banks. 

Notwithstanding all these obstacles, Lord Nelson, with only 
twelve line-of-battle ships, anchored on the 1st of April within 
two leagues of Copenhagen. Sir Hyde Parker remained with 
the rest of the fleet at the entrance of the sound. At 10 
o'clock, on the morning of the 2d of April, the battle began, 
and raged furiously for three hours. At 1 o'clock, the 
cannonade from the Danish batteries and ships being still 
kept up, and three of the best English vessels, unable to 
join in the engagement, having grounded on the shoals, 
Admiral Parker gave the signal to withdraw. Nelson was 
in the thickest of the fight when this signal was reported to 
him. Instead of obeying it, he exclaimed to one of his 
captains : " What think you, the admiral has hung out No. 
39.* You know I have only one eye; I have a right to be 
blind sometimes." Then putting the glass to his blind eye, 
he continued, " I really don't see the signal. Keep mine for 
closer battle, still flying." Such was the intrepidity that won 
a battle of which the hero remarked : " I have been in above 
a hundred engagements, but that of Copenhagen was the most 
terrible of them all." 

This decisive blow had the effect, in conjunction with 

* The signal for breaking off the action. 



372 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

another important event, of putting an end to the Armed 
Neutrality. The latter event was the death of the emperor 
of Russia, and the accession of a new czar, Alexander I., 
who immediately entered into friendly negotiations with 
Great Britain. 

In the spring of 1802, the treaty of Amiens was signed 
between France and England. It made but a brief pause 
in the fearful contest raging throughout Europe. War was 
renewed in 1803, and continued its destructive course until 
the sun of Napoleon went down on the field of Waterloo. 
To dwell minutely on these scenes of strife would be unne- 
cessary; we will therefore only glance at the more important 
events in the history of the struggle. 

Napoleon had returned to Europe in the year 1799, leaving 
his generals to pursue the conquest of Egypt. In March, 
1801, the French general Moreau sustained a severe defeat 
in a battle fought near Alexandria, and a few months later he 
was besieged in that city by the united English and Turkish 
forces under General Hutchinson. Moreau, finding no pros- 
pect of relief, surrendered ; and, before the close of the year, 
the French were compelled to abandon Egypt. 

On the 18th of May, 1804, Napoleon was declared Emperor 
of the French, and during the following year carried on a 
successful campaign in Northern Italy and Austria. On the 
surrender of the old Austrian town of Ulm, by General 
Mack, on the 20th of October, 1805, Napoleon gazed upon 
an array of sixty thousand prisoners of war as they defiled 
before him. He exclaimed: "I must have greater things 
than these — ships, colonies, commerce ! these are what I 
want !" The morrow's sun shone down upon the battle of 
Trafalgar, by which these much-coveted advantages were 
confirmed to his enemies, and the hope of their acquisition 
was for ever crushed in the mind of Napoleon. 

The battle of Trafalgar, gained by Lord Nelson, on 

1805* 

the morning of the 21st October, 1805, will be ever 
memorable in the annals of Great Britain's naval history; 
memorable for the bravery with which an English fleet of 



GEORGE III. 373 

twenty-seven sail encountered and almost annihilated the 
combined squadrons of France and Spain ; memorable for the 
death of the gallant Lord Nelson, who fell in the moment of 
hard-earned victory; but more memorable still for the last 
signal which that brave hero made to his fleet on going into 
action, and which was responded to with enthusiasm by every 
ship in the line. Those simple words, "England expects 
every man to do his duty/' animated with rapturous enthu- 
siasm the men who fought at Trafalgar, and their sentiment 
availed in many a succeeding conflict to turn the field of 
battle on which Englishmen strove, into a field of victory. 

In the year 1808, Napoleon was at the height of his power 
and glory. All continental Europe lay prostrate at his feet. 
He had seized the thrones of Holland and Naples for two of 
his brothers, Louis and Joseph, and for a third had erected 
Westphalia into a kingdom. He now sought to transfer 
Joseph Bonaparte to the throne of Spain, providing for the 
vacant crown of Naples by placing it on the head of Murat, 
one of his. bravest generals. This attempt, resisted by Spain, 
in alliance with Portugal and England, resulted in the long 
and disastrous Peninsular War. In July, Sir Arthur Wel- 
lesley (soon afterwards Duke of Wellington) was sent out 
with a force of ten thousand men. At Vimeira, in 
Portugal, he gained a victory over the French 
marshal Junot; but the geterals who immediately superseded 
Wellesley, instead of pursuing this victory, entered into an 
agreement by which the French, on terms in the highest 
degree favorable to themselves, abandoned Portugal. This 
agreement, the Convention of Cintra, as it is called, gave 
great dissatisfaction in England. The generals who had 
concluded it were summoned home, and Sir John Moore 
was appointed to the command of the English forces in the 
Peninsula. 

This general advanced into Spain, but Napoleon had 

entered that country with near 200,000 men, defeated the 

Spaniards in several engagements, taken Madrid, and being 

now with fifty thousand men in pursuit of the English, Sir 

32 



374 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

John Moore was forced to retreat. Napoleon was himself 
recalled to France, but Marshal Soult assumed the command, 
and continued the march upon the retreating English. 

When, on the 11th of January, 1809, the army of Sir 
John Moore gazed from the heights of Corunna upon the 
sea, and saw not a single transport in the harbor, they knew 
their only hope lay in successful battle with the pursuing foe. 
That battle, fought on the 16th, in the face of overwhelming 
numbers, was won, but with the sacrifice of their brave com- 
mander. Sir John Moore perished upon the field of victory. 
The enemy were repulsed, but there was no time to be lost in 
the embarkation of the troops on board the transports which 
two days before had anchored in the harbor. Hastily, and 
in silence, a grave was dug on the ramparts of Corunna, in 
which was laid the body of the departed general. But the 
scene of that touching burial is best described in the exejuisite 
lines of the poet — 

" Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 
As his corse to the ramparts we hurried : 
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
O'er the grave where our hero we buried;" 

This noble funeral dirge will ever give to the name and 
memory of Sir John Moore an association of interest. 

-During the first years of the Peninsular War, the generals 
of Napoleon made themselves masters of the finest provinces 
and strongest fortresses of Spain. Sir Arthur Wellesley as- 
sumed the command of the English forces in the Peninsula 
in 1809. Whenever these forces encountered the French, 
they won important and splendid victories, as at Talavera, 
Busaco, Albuerra, Salamanca, &c. ; but Spain being occupied 
by immense armies of the French, and no dependence to 
be placed on the Spanish allies, the prospect of recovering the 
Peninsula seemed indeed hopeless. It was not until the close 
of the year 1810 that the genius of Wellington first turned 
the tide of conquest. Opposed by vastly superior forces, 
which, moreover, were commanded by Napoleon's ablest 



GEORGE III. 375 

marshals ; with an army disheartened by hardships and 
reverses ', receiving no efficient support from the ministry in 
England, and constantly thwarted by tfhe most base and 
cowardly conduct on the part of his Spanish allies and the 
government of Portugal, Wellington, with the patient courage 
of the true hero, maintained for three years longer the unpro- 
mising struggle. 

At last came his reward. At the close of the year 1813, 
the eagles of the empire, which, in 1810, had first quailed 
before him at the rock of Torres Yedras, took their final 
flight from the Peninsula. On the 21st of June was fought 
the great battle of Yittoria, wherein victory rested with the 
English. Fortress after fortress was wrested from the enemy, 
and Wellington, having crossed the Bidassoa, was fighting 
the French successfully on the soil of their own kingdom. 

In the spring of 1812, Napoleon, thinking the conquest of 
Spain secure, had set out at the head of five hundred thousand 
men for the invasion of Russia. This memorable expedition 
resulted in the burning of Moscow to prevent its being occu- 
pied by the French for their winter quarters, and in the 
disastrous retreat and destruction of Napoleon's hosts. 

Of the vast multitudes which had followed the imperial 
eagles across the Niemen, but twenty thousand repassed that 
1812 river. Misfortunes dark and manifold now gathered 
around the throne of Napoleon. From the rock of 
Lisbon to the shores of the White Sea, all Europe 
rose against him. A million of his soldiers had perished in 
eighteen months. Whence could he raise new armies ? On 
the 11th of April, 1814, after several desperate but disastrous 
struggles, Napoleon yielded to the power of his enemies. He 
abdicated his throne and retired to the island of Elba. Escap- 
ing thence, in the spring of 1815 he returned to France. 
By the old army he was welcomed with enthusiasm ; soldiers 
rallied once more under the imperial eagles, and now drew on 
the last act in this long fearful tragedy of war. 

Napoleon, having raised an army of one hundred and twenty 
thousand men, strong both in artillery and cavalry, suddenly 



to 
1814. 



376 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

entered Belgium. The emperor's intention was to interpose 
between the English army under Wellington, stationed at 
Brussels, and that of its Prussian ally, which, under Marshal 
Blucher, was posted some seventy miles distant; — to defeat 
the Prussians first, and afterwards, as he expressed it, " to 
measure himself with this Wellington." 

Intelligence that Napoleon had crossed the frontier reached 
the English duke on the evening of the 15th of June. With 
characteristic calmness he gave the necessary orders for the 
march of the troops, and then went to the Duchess of Rich- 
mond's ball — an incident made so familiar by Lord Byron's 
lines in Childe Harold : — 

There was a sound of revelry by night, 
And Belgium's capital had gathered there 
Her beauty and her chivalry. 

On the 16th of June two battles were fought. That of 
Ligny, where Napoleon had attacked the Prussians; and 
that of Quatre-Bras, where Wellington, in endeavoring to 
unite with Blucher, encountered the French under Marshal 
Ney. In the former the Prussians were defeated, and com- 
pelled to retreat, but the advantage to the French was 
counterbalanced by the success of the British at Quatre- 
Bras, where Ney, after four hours' hard fighting, had lost the 
battle. 

Wellington's army fell back towards Brussels in order to 
secure communication with the Prussians. Blucher sent 
word to the duke, that although defeated he should be ready 
again for action so soon as his men should receive a supply 
of bread and cartridges. Wellington in return communicated 
his intention to engage the French, provided he could rely on 
the support of two Prussian divisions, and the brave old mar- 
shal instantly promised to advance with his whole force. 

On the opposite summits of low ranges of hills which 
overlook the plain of Waterloo, the French and English 
armies bivouacked on the night of the 17th June. Bain 
fell in torrents, and its melancholy hours were spent upon 



GEOKGE III 377 

the soaking wet ground. Some English battalions, still more 
unfortunate, lay among the rye-fields, the tall grain of which 
was dripping from top to bottom. 

On the morning of the 18th June, 1815, amid the rolling 
of drums and bursts of martial music, the French forces took 
up their position. The English in silence, broken only by 
the rumbling of artillery or the word of command, secured 
their ground When Napoleon gazed upon the British 
legions, arranged in compact squares, and marshalled for the 
fight, he exclaimed: "I have them, these English!" "Sire," 
replied Soult, " I know these English ; they will die on the 
ground on which they stand, before they lose it " 

As the clock from a neighboring village struck eleven, the 
first gun was fired from the French lines, and the action 
commenced by their attack on an old chateau, where was 
posted a body of English light troops. By a fierce assault 
the wood surrounding the chateau was carried, but the house 
held out, an invincible citadel, until consumed by the fire 
from the French howitzers. Even then the brave foot-guards 
maintained the garden and courtyard, and turned the storm 
of battle from that quarter. It then burst in full force upon 
the British left, to be not only repelled, but returned by such 
a brilliant charge of cavalry from the Scotch Grreys, as to 
extort admiration from Napoleon himself. " Those terrible 
Greys, how they fight !" he exclaimed, when he beheld his 
column of five thousand strong scattered by their charge, two 
thousand prisoners taken, and eighty pieces of cannon ren- 
dered useless. Pictou, the brave leader who repelled the 
French onset, and Ponsonby, who led the charge, both fell in 
the moment of their brilliant success. 

And now the massive columns of the French turned upon 
the British centre. There Wellington commanded, and Na- 
poleon animated the attack. For four hours it was the scene 
of the intrepid charge of the French cavalry, and the heroic 
resistance and repulse of the British infantry. 

Ti^us the battle raged long past the hour of noon, and the 
Prussians under their brave old marshal had not yet come up. 



378 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

They had begun their march by daybreak, but the route lay 
through forest roads made deep and miry by recent rains, 
crossed by rivulets which had become torrents, and inter- 
spersed with deep pools. The gun-carriages often sank 
axle-deep in mud, and the exhausted and almost despairing 
soldiers would exclaim : "We shall never get on." "But we 
must get on/' urged Blucher, " I have given my word to 
Wellington, and you will not make me break it. Courage, 
children, courage, for a few hours longer; and then victory 
will be ours." It was past four o'clock in the afternoon 
when they reached the scene of action. 

But when the fire of their artillery rung upon the ear, 
Napoleon felt that the last decisive moment was fast ap- 
proaching. One more hope remained. It lay in the old 
Imperial Guard, — those brave veterans of the empire, than 
whom there were on earth none braver. But even they were 
powerless to win back the fatal day of Waterloo j and as the 
sun went down there rose the despairing cry: "All is lost; 
the Guard recoils !" Its departing rays beheld the flight 
of the last columns of the imperial army. Waterloo was lost, 
and Napoleon, attended only by a few followers, fled from the 
battle-field. He returned to Paris, and thence endeavored to 
escape to America, but the shores of France were watched by 
English cruisers. Disappointed in this hope, he surrendered 
himself into the hands of the captain of an English vessel in 
the harbor of Bochfort — 

" Aud trusting to his noblest foes, 
When earth was all too gray for chivalry, 
Died of their mercies 'mid the desert sea."* 

The allies entered Paris : the old line of French kings was 
restored, and the terrible struggle of the French Bevolution 
was ended. 

During the latter years of these wars on the continent, 
England and the United States had become involved in 

* At St. Helena, after an exile of six years. 



GEORGE III. 379 

hostilities, arising chiefly from disputes about the right of 
search, and their commercial and maritime relations. The 
war, begun in 1812, lasted until the close of 1814. The 
Americans made several invasions of Canada, in the hope of 
annexing it to the United States, but the Canadians very 
generally remained loyal to the mother country, and the 
invaders were repulsed In the summer of 1813, the Atlantic 
coajst of the United States suffered from the depredations of a 
British fleet commanded by Admiral Cockburn. In August, 
1814, the British entered Washington, and burned the public 
buildings. In the following month they threatened the city 
of Baltimore, but were repulsed, and soon after abandoned 
the Atlantic sea-board. 

In the naval combats which occurred during this war, both 
on the ocean and on the lakes, the Americans, under their 
intrepid commanders, Hull, Decatur, Perry, and McDonough, 
achieved some noble triumphs over the hitherto invincible 
navy of England. Early in 1815 the battle of New Orleans 
was fought. General Jackson repulsed the English com- 
mander, with the loss of only thirteen men, whilst the British 
numbered nearly one thousand in killed alone. A few weeks 
before this battle, which was fought on the 8th of January, 
commissioners who had met for this purpose at Ghent, 
in Holland, had signed a treaty of peace between the 
two countries. Hostilities ceased immediately after the pub- 
lication of this treaty. 

During the wars of the French Revolution, the Barbary 
pirates had ravaged at will the great inland sea of Europe. 
They were the terror of every sail, which, engaged in the 
peaceful enterprises of commerce, passed the Straits of Gib- 
raltar, and ships of all nations had furnished captives for the 
dungeons of Algiers. One Neapolitan lady, the mother of 
eight children, had endured an imprisonment of" thirteen 
years, during which six of her family who were confined with 
her had died. In 1816 the British government sent Lord 
Exmouth to the coast of Barbary to demand reparation, and 
compel these powers to give up their practice of making 



380 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Christians slaves. Tunis and Tripoli acceded to these de- 
mands, but Algiers hesitated, on the ground that being a 
subject of Turkey, she could enter into no treaty without the 
consent of that government. An embassy was sent to the 
sultan, but before any answer could be returned, the Alge- 
rines committed so gross an outrage on the flag of Great 
Britain, that the British government determined to destroy 
this stronghold of piracy. A fleet commanded by Lord Ex- 
mouth was sent to Algiers. The city, built on a hillside, 
which rises from the sea, presented an imposing and for- 
midable appearance. It was well defended with fortifications, 
batteries, and gunboats. On the 27th of August, Lord Ex- 
mouth entered the harbor, and sent to the Dey a flag, with 
the demands of the British government. An answer was 
promised in the course of two hours, but as none came at 
the appointed time, Lord Exmouth opened a fire upon the 
town. At four o'clock, p. M., the British fired some Algerine 
ships in the harbor : the flames spread to the arsenals and 
stores on the shore, and when on the following morning the 
Dey sent in his submission, his capital presented a melancholy 
appearance. A treaty was entered into, by which three 
thousand and three captives were liberated, and the abolition 
of Christian slavery was promised by the government of 
Algiers. 

On the 29th of January, 1820, King George III. died, in 
the eighty-second year of his age, and the sixtieth of his 
reign. For nearly ten years, attacks of insanity had ren- 
dered him wholly incapable of administering the govern- 
ment, and since February, 1811, it had been conducted by a 
regency, having the Prince of Wales at its head. The 
Prince-Kegent now succeeded to the crown, with the title of 
George IV. 

Questions. — Give an account of the " Armed Neutrality.." — De- 
scribe the battle of Copenhagen. — Mention the circumstances which 
put an end to the "Armed Neutrality." — What misfortune befell the 
French army in Egypt? — -Describe Napoleon's position in the spring 



GEORGE IV. 381 

of 1804. — Repeat the account of the battle of Trafalgar. — Relate the 
circumstances which brought on the Peninsular War. — Describe the 
operations of the war in Spain during the year 1808. — Give the 
account of the battle of Corunna. — What was the character of the 
war in Spain ? — Describe the difficulties which beset the Duke of 
Wellington. — Relate his subsequent successes. — What was the issue 
of Napoleon's invasion of Russia ?— Describe the position and con- 
duct of Napoleon during the year 1814.— When did he return to 
France, and how was he received ? — What were Napoleon's designs 
at this time? — Describe the conduct of Wellington.— Describe the 
battles of Quatre-Bras and Ligny.— The battle of Waterloo.— State 
the results of this conflict. 

Mention the principal operations of the war in America during 
the years 1812-13. — Describe the battle of New Orleans. — Describe 
the outrages of the Barbary pirates. — What was the result of Lord 
Exmouth's embassy to the Barbary powers? — Describe the attack 
on Algiers, and state the result. — When did George III. die? — 
Who succeeded to the throne ? 



CHAPTER LXIL 

GEORGE IV. 

TRIAL OF THE QUEEN — CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION — PARLIAMENTARY 
REFORM. 

In 1795, when Prince of Wales, George had married his 
cousin, the Princess Caroline of Brunswick. The union 
proved an extremely unhappy one, and in 1814 the queen 
went to reside on the continent. 

Charges of immoral conduct having been alleged on the 
part of her husband, efforts were made on his accession to 
induce her to remain abroad, and renounce the style and 
title of queen of Great Britain. To all these propositions 
she gave a decided refusal. Irritated by the indignities 
offered her at foreign courts, where English ambassadors were 
forbidden to recognise her, and especially incensed at the 



382 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

omission of her name in the prayers for the royal family, she 
returned to England, and demanded an investigation of her 
conduct. A bill to deprive her of her rights as queen, 
and to dissolve her marriage with the king, was proposed, 
and she was tried before the House of Lords. Although 
the nation were by no means convinced of Queen Caroline's 
entire innocence, they regarded her in great measure as a 
persecuted woman, and so unpopular were the proceedings of 
the king and his ministers, that after a trial of three months 
they were obliged to abandon the bill and drop the prosecu- 
tion. In the summer of the following year the grave 
closed over the sufferings and sorrows of this unhappy 
lady, and saved the ministers the painful task of inquiring 
into her fitness to preside as queen in an English court. 
In turning to the domestic history of Great Britain during 
1T99 *^e * on S P er i°d °f tne French Revolution, three im- 
to portant topics — Catholic Emancipation, Parliamentary 
Reform, and the Abolition of Slavery — demand our 
attention. These objects were all subsequently attained and 
within a few years of each other. We will consider their 
history in the order in which the bills passed in parliament. 
First: Catholic, Emancipation. 

When, in the year 1800, tl e union of England and Ireland 
was contemplated, Mr Pitt, n at the head of the adminis- 
tration, held out to those Roni i Catholics who were most 
violently opposed to this measure, <\ie assurance that as soon 
as the union should be effected, all political disabilities would 
be removed, and Romanists allowed an equal participation in 
civil rights with the Protestant subjects of the realm. The 
scruples of George III. were not to be overcome j the assur- 
ance could not be realized, and Mr. Pitt deemed himself 
in honor bound to resign his position as prime minister. 
This he did in February, 1801, after having guided the 
councils of Great Britain with consummate ability for 

1801. J 

the long period of seventeen years. 
The discontents of the disappointed Irish increased. In 



GEORGE IV. 383 

1803 a short-lived rebellion broke out, headed by a young 
lawyer named Robert Emmett. He, with the few who joined 
him, were seized and executed. The youth, talents, and 
enthusiasm of this misguided patriot, together with his mourn- 
ful end, have combined to make him an object of romantic 
interest. 

The question of relief for the Roman Catholics from 
political disabilities, came up in parliament almost every 
session j but so strong was public sentiment against it, and so 
violent the opposition of the government, and especially the 
prejudices of the aged king and his successor, that no bill 
granting political privileges to Roman Catholics could be 
carried. In the year 1821, a horrible famine, occasioned 
by the failure of the potato crop, broke out in Ireland. 
Disease followed, and misery and death spread over this 
unhappy country. In the year 1824, the people established 
a Catholic Association, to obtain, if possible, by union, agita- 
tion, and clamor, what had been denied to their petitions and 
remonstrances. The state of Ireland during the next six 
183* y ears was miserable in the extreme. Tne " Agitators," 
to as they were called, headed by their chief, Daniel 

1 829 

O'Connell, a lawyer of eminence and.ooility, increased 
throughout the country. Orar';e Societies and Brunswick 
Clubs were organized by the'' ^estants, and the old feeling 
of bitter antagonism arouse^ L n all its strength. 

At length the views . sovereign and cabinet gave way 
before the miseries of Ireland. The bill for the relief of the 
Roman Catholics was introduced by Mr. Peel, hitherto one 
of the firmest opposers of the measure, on the 5th of March. 
1829. The king, the Duke of Wellington, then prime 
1838 lmmster > and other members of the government, had 

and long been opposed to the removal of political disa- 
bilities from the Roman Catholics, but alarmed at the 
state of Ireland, and dreading civil war, they were now 
induced to yield. It was a touching scene when the Iron 
Duke, that veteran soldier, so long the conscientious foe to 
Catholic Emancipation, declared in parliament : " Rather 



384 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

than a country I love should be visited with the calamities 
which I have seen — with the unutterable horrors of a civil 
war — I would run any risk ; I would make any sacrifice ) I 
would freely lay down my life." 

By this bill, which passed the 10th of April, 1829, the 
Roman Catholics received equal political rights with other 
English subjects, saving a few special exceptions. No Roman 
Catholic can be lord chancellor, or keeper of the great seal, or 
lord lieutenant of Ireland Nor can he receive an appoint- 
ment in any Protestant university or college. All Roman 
Catholics holding civil office are bound by an oath to support 
the existing institutions of the state, and not to injure those 
of the church. 

We turn now to the second subject which demands our 
attention. 

During the American war there were frequent complaints 
of the imperfect representation of the nation in the House of 
Commons. Associations were organized for the purpose of 
petitioning for a reform in parliament, and the subject was 
brought forward by Mr. Pitt in 1782. His motion for an 
investigation into the state of the national representation, met 
with strong opposition, and was lost. Resolutions for the 
same object met with the same fate the following year, and a 
similar bill was lost in 1785. 

When the subject again came up, in 1790, on the motion 
of Mr. Flood, an efoquent Irish orator, the French Revolution 
had begun. The agitation of men's minds was such, that 
Mr. Pitt, deprecating any measure that would affect the 
British constitution at such a time, opposed the motion. In 
the session of 1793 a motion for parliamentary reform was 
introduced by Mr. Grey, who had prepared a scheme for this 
object. It was stated by the mover, that the total number of 
representatives for Scotland was only one greater than that 
for the county of Cornwall ; moreover, that large and flourish- 
ing towns, such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, &c, 
were not represented at all, whilst old decayed places, with 



GEORGE IV. 385 

scarcely a score of voters, sent members to parliament. These 
latter were called rotten boroughs. One of them in par- 
ticular, Old Saruni, furnished the most glaring instance of 
the defect in the national representation. Two miles from 
Salisbury, in Wiltshire, lay a few barren acres and deserted 
dwellings ; and yet this uninhabited spot was represented in 
the British parliament by two members, whilst large and 
populous manufacturing towns were denied the right of 
sending even one. It was also asserted that a large number 
of the freeholders of the kingdom were deprived of a share 
in the elections on account of religious opinions ; Papists not 
being allowed to vote, and in some places Protestant dissenters 
being debarred this right. Mr. Grey's bill was opposed by 
Pitt and Burke, who feared any change in the constitution, 
lest it should lead to the introduction of French revolu- 
tionary principles. The motion was lost by an overwhelming 
majority. 
1816 When the restoration of peace enabled the people 
to turn to other interests than those of war, the 
subject of the unequal representation of the nation in par- 
liament became an all-engrossing topic. Among the lower 
classes it grew into a sort of popular idol. When scarcity 
prevailed, through failure of the crops, or the high prices of 
food, which are among the evils of war, or when the intro- 
duction of new machinery gave alarm to ignorant operatives, 
relief was looked for through a reform of the constitution. 
Meetings were held to petition for reform. In the year 
1819, an immense meeting of this kind, headed by a radical 
reformer named Hunt, was convened at Manchester. The 
assembly was declared illegal, and the magistrates were 
ordered to arrest the leaders of it. Unable to effect this, 
without military force, they called in the aid- of the soldiery. 
A melee ensued, in which five or six lives were lost. This 
produced the greatest indignation throughout the country, 
and inflamed the passions of many against the government. 
isao. * n ^ e fo ^ owm S y ear ? just after the accession of 
George IV., occurred the Cato Street Conspiracy, 
23 2B 



386 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

so named from the meeting-place of those engaged in the 
plot. Its design was to murder the ministers whilst assembled 
at a cabinet dinner at Lord Harrowby's. The conspiracy was 
betrayed, and the leaders of it were seized and executed. 
Although opposed by George IV., by his ministers, and by the 
peers generally, the cause of parliamentary reform gained 
1820 stren g tn - Year by year more intelligent views of the 
to necessity and justice, as well as the benefits, which a 
wise measure of reform would confer, prevailed among 
all classes, and few sessions of parliament passed without the 
subject being introduced by its prominent supporters, Lord 
Grey, Mr. Brougham, and Lord John Russell Associations 
called Political Unions were formed in all the large manufac- 
turing towns, in order to raise such an outcry for parliamentary 
reform, as should compel the passage of the measure in spite 
of all opposition. Such was the position of this subject in 
the year 1830, when George IV. died, and was succeeded by 
his brother, William Henry, Duke of Clarence. 

Questions. — "Whom had George IV. married? — To what indigni- 
ties was she subjected? — How did she resent this treatment? — -Relate 
what is told of the queen's trial. — Name the three topics prominent 
in the domestic history of Great Britain during this period. — What 
assurances had been given to the Roman Catholics by Mr. Pitt? — 
Relate his conduct in this connection. — Describe the Irish rebellion 
of 1803. — What obstacles delayed the passage of a Catholic Relief 
Bill? — Describe the condition of Ireland during the year 1821. — 
What was the object of the Catholic Reform Association? — Describe 
the condition of Ireland between the years 1824-1829. — Describe the 
passage of the Catholic Emancipation Bill. — State the provisions of 
this bill. — What was the result of the petitions for parliamentary 
reform between the years 1782-1785? — Relate the history of this 
question during the session of 1793. — When was the subject re- 
newed? — Describe the state of feeling existing in the country with 
regard to parliamentary reform. — State the results of the meeting 
at Manchester in 1819. — Give the history of the Cato Street Con- 
spiracy, 



WILLIAM IV. 387 

CHAPTER LXIIL 

WILLIAM IV. 

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM — MUNICIPAL REFORM — ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE- 
TRADE SLAVERY EMANCIPATION BILL — POOR LAWS — CRIMINAL LAW. 

On the opening of the new parliament after the accession 
of William IV., Earl Grey, the leader of the Whigs, in the 
House of Lords, and Mr. Brougham, in the House of Com- 
mons, introduced the all-engrossing topic of parliamentary 
reform. The former contended that' it was at that time an 
imperative duty to secure the institutions of Great Britain, 
by introducing into them a temperate measure of reform. 
The Duke of Wellington, in reply, stated as his conviction, 
that England possessed the best legislature in the world, and, 
holding this opinion, that he should consider it his duty to 
oppose any measure for the reform of the constitution. This 
speech overthrew the duke's ministry The accession of Earl 
Grey, who had been for years a consistent advocate of parlia- 
mentary reform, to the premiership, followed. On the 1st 
March, 1831, Lord John Russell introduced a reform bill, 
but the strength of the opposition was such, that, foreseeing 
the failure of the bill, the king, with great reluctance, agreed 
to dissolve parliament. 

The new parliament met in June, and the bill, 

1831. r ' ' 

after warm debate, and every delay which a strong 
opposition could invent, passed the House of Commons on 
the 21st of September. This event rejoiced the nation. 
" Before daylight, the news was on its way into the country; 
and wherever it spread, it floated the flags, and woke up the 
bells, and filled the air with shouts and music." These 
feelings of joy were soon followed by anxiety for the fate 
of the bill in the House of Lords. In that house it was lost 
by a majority of forty-one. The king prorogued parliament 
to the 6th December. Meanwhile the failure of the bill 



388 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

produced the greatest excitement throughout the land. At 
Bristol, Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester, and in 
fact all over the kingdom, mobs and riotous proceedings testi- 
fied the feeling of large bodies of the people. 

When parliament reassembled, Lord John Russell again 
brought in a reform bill. Again the ministry found them- 
selves unable to carry the . measure through the House of 
Lords, and they resigned their places. The resignation of 
Earl Grey and his colleagues produced such a storm of indig- 
nation, that the king was forced to bow before it, and recall 
the discarded ministers. This took place on the 15th of May, 
1832, and on the 4th of June, the opposition gave way, and 
the reform bill passed A few days later it received the 
royal assent, and was hailed as a law of the land by universal 
festivals and rejoicings. By the reform bill all boroughs not 
having two thousand inhabitants were disfranchised; those 
containing less than four thousand were only allowed to send 
each one member to parliament ; the right of electing mem- 
bers taken thus from these boroughs, was bestowed 

18353 

upon the large manufacturing towns, upon four dis- 
tricts in London, and upon certain divisions of the larger 
counties hitherto inadequately represented. 

Three years later, another reform, in a measure consequent 
upon that of parliament, was effected. This was a recon- 
struction of the corporations of towns and boroughs. The 
powers and funds of municipal institutions had long been in 
the hands of close corporations : — men self-elected, — respon- 
sible to no one for their administration,— the records of whose 
transactions were never exhibited, and among whom, in many 
instances, the greatest amount of corruption was known to 
prevail. The funds were misapplied, justice was withheld, 
and for the large mass of honest and respectable citizens there 
was no appeal against this municipal tyranny. At length, in 

1835, a law was enacted by which this disgraceful 

1835. . 

system was broken up. Henceforth the affairs of 
each incorporated borough were to be administered by a town 
council, consisting of a mayor, aldermen, and burgesses, and 



WILLIAM IV. 389 

the election of these officers thrown open to the inhabitants 

under certain qualifications, regarding property and residence. 

The year following the reform bill, another important 

legislative act, passed the houses of parliament — a 

bill for the abolition of slavery in all the dominions 

of Great Britain. 

As early as 1783, the Quakers had presented a petition to 
parliament for the abolition of the slave-trade, the horrors of 
which had awakened the sympathies of these benevolent 
people. A few years later, William Wilberforce, one 
of the .purest and most Christian statesmen of that 
day, determined to make the cause one of the two great objects 
of his parliamentary life. The other was the reformation of 
manners. Out of the house it numbered among its advocates 
Granville Sharp, Thornton, Clarkson, and other noted friends 
of humanity. In May, 1788, Wilberforce being absent from 
parliament, on account of ill-health, his friend, William Pitt, 
moved that the house should, " in the ensuing session, take 
into consideration the circumstances of the African slave-trade, 
complained of in petitions presented to parliament; and what 
may. seem fit to be done." During the discussion of this 
motion, Sir William Dolben called attention to the sufferings 
of the negroes in the passage from Africa to the West Indies, 
and a bill for alleviating these sufferings was passed. 

The time given to the consideration of this question, during 
the ensuing sessions of parliament, was chiefly spent in listen- 
ing to evidence on the subject of the slave-trade. At length, 
in 1791, Wilberforce asked leave to bring in a bill to prevent 
any further importation of slaves into the British West Indies. 
At the close of an able speech, which he delivered in support 
of the motion, this Christian statesman made the following 
jsolemn apppeal : — " There will be a day of retribution 
wherein we shall have to give account of all the 
talents, faculties, and opportunities which have been intrusted 
to us. Let it not then appear that our superior power has 
been employed to oppress our fellow-creatures, and our 
superior light to darken the creation of our God." 
33* 



390 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

The question of the abolition of the slave-trade was sup- 
ported by Fox and Pitt, but met with such strong and 
determined opposition on the part of West India merchants, 
planters, and other influential bodies, that the motion was 
lost. A bill, however, passed for founding at Sierra Leone a 
trading colony. This was done in the hope of promoting a 
lawful and eventually profitable trade with the African coast, 
and thus opening a way for the work of civilization and 
Christian conversion in that part of the world. After a 
struggle of twenty years' continuance, Wilberforce gained the 
object to which he had devoted life, fortune, and every energy 
of a gifted mind and benevolent heart. On the 23d of 
March, 1807, a bill for the abolition of the slave-trade passed 
the British parliament. So great had been the change in 
public sentiment, since the day when this motion was 
first made and lost, and so clearly was the iniquity of 
the slave-trade now perceived by the nation, that only sixteen 
voices were found bold enough to oppose the overwhelming 
majority which rose in behalf of this humane and righteous 
cause. 

Twenty-six years were yet to pass before a bill for the total 
abolition of the institution of slavery in the British 

1833. . J 

West Indies should be carried through parliament. 
A motion to this effect was introduced into the House of 
Commons by Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton in the year 1823. 
The following ten were years of incessant effort on the part 
of the friends of this measure, who at length succeeded. 
The bill passed on the 30th August, 1833. On the 1st 
of August, 1834, eight hundred thousand slaves were eman- 
cipated in the British West Indies, and twenty millions 
sterling were paid to the slaveholders as compensation. 

Besides the three prominent reforms, the history of which 
has just been given, there were other evils connected with 
the operation of English law, which for years had occupied 
the attention of humane and wise statesmen. The poor, the 
criminal, and the game laws were especially oppressive to 



WILLIAM IV. 391 

those immediately affected by them, as well as injurious to 
every class of society. 

In 1832, a commission was appointed to investigate the 
condition of the parishes throughout England and Wales. 
It was shown by their report, that, although millions of pounds 
were yearly collected for poor-rates, yet the operation of the 
poor-laws was such as rather to increase than to relieve poverty, 
— to check honest industry and to encourage vice and crime. 
In 1834, a bill for the amendment of the poor-laws, founded 
on the report of this commission, was passed in parliament. 
It provided for a system of well-arranged efficient workhouses, 
into which the destitute might be admitted, those who were 
able-bodied obtaining employment therein, whilst the 
sick and aged received the requisite support and care. 
So effectual was the operation of this law, that in five years 
after its enactment the poor-rates had decreased from seven 
to four millions sterling ; — honest industry was protected and 
encouraged, and the pauperism which had hitherto supported 
itself by crime and beggary was greatly reduced. 

Sir Thomas More, the upright chancellor of Henry VIII. 's 
time, says, in his Utopia, written in the year 1516 : u Nor so 
stoical ordinances are to be borne withal, as to count all 
offences of such equality, that the killing of a man, or the 
taking of his money from him, were both one matter." And 
yet the criminal laws of England, in each succeeding century, 
had grown more and more severe, until they had indeed 
become such "stoical ordinances" as were not "to be borne." 
The penalty of death was inflicted almost without distinction 
of crime. Such offences as stealing to the amount of forty 
shillings from a dwelling-house, or picking a pocket of five 
shillings, or robbing a bleaching-ground or a coal-vessel, was 
each subjected to capital punishment. The consequence was 
that the laws were but partially executed, and crime increased 
at a fearful rate. Thieves were encouraged in their wicked- 
ness, because few were willing to bring a fellow-being to trial 
for stealing a small amount of property, when they knew the 
penalty to be death. 



392 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Sir Samuel Romilly, a statesman ever wise and active for 
good, labored during the entire course of his long and valu- 
able life to procure an amelioration of these cruel laws. He 
succeeded in getting the penalty of death remitted 

1808. & o r J 

for stealing from the person to the amount of five shil- 
lings, and subsequently for stealing from bleaching-grounds. 
After the death of Komilly, Sir James Mcintosh, Sir Robert 
Peel, and others labored in this good cause. An amelioration 
of the criminal code was obtained by the latter statesman in 
1827. Ten years later, a bill passed the houses of parliament, 
abolishing the death penalty in twenty-one out of thirty-one 
cases in which it had hitherto existed. 

On the 20th of June, 1837, William IV. died. Alexan- 
dria Victoria, the daughter of his brother, the Duke of 
Kent, succeeded to the throne. 

Questions. — How was the question of political reform treated in 
the first parliament of William IV. ? — Give the history of Lord John 
Russell's hill of March, 1831. — What was the effect of the resigna- 
tion of the ministry ? — When and under what circumstances did the 
reform bill pass? — Describe the provisions of this bill. — Describe 
the condition of municipal corporations prior to 1885. — What reform 
was effected in that year. — Who were the earliest advocates of the 
abolition of the African slave-trade? — Relate the history of Pitt's 
motion on this question in 1788. — Describe Wilberforce's advocaey 
of this cause in 1791. — What occasioned the defeat of this bill ? 

With what object was a colony founded at Sierra Leone? — When 
did the bill for the abolition of the slave-trade pass ? — When was 
slavery in the West Indies abolished ? — What number was emanci- 
pated ? — How were the planters remunerated ? — Give the report of 
the committee appointed for the inspection of parishes in the year 
1832. — State the provisions of the poor-law of 1834. — Describe the 
criminal law of England prior to 1837. — What was the result of its 
severity? — When did William IV. die ?— Who succeeded to the 
throne ? 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 393 

CHAPTER LXIV. 

QUEEN VICTORIA. 

THE QUEEN — CHARTISTS — CORN-LAW — REPEAL AGITATION — FATHER 
MATTHEW — MAYNOOTH COLLEGE — FAMINE — INSURRECTION. 

A young queen of eighteen years, reared in healthful, 

simple habits, truthful, conscientious, and with a heart full 

of devotion to her subjects, ascended the throne. No 

1837. J ' 

wonder that the hearts and hopes of the nation clus- 
tered around her. From childhood she had been noted for 
punctuality and strict adherence to principle. A simple 
anecdote of these early years well illustrates her habits in 
these respects. 

One summer, when at Tunbridge Wells, her childish fancy 
was attracted by some little article which she greatly desired 
as a present for one of her cousins. Finding, however, that 
she had not sufficient ready money to buy it, this young 
princess, too conscientious to incut even a trifling debt, cheer- 
fully gave up the purchase until the reception of her quarter's 
allowance should enable her to pay for it The shopkeeper 
kept the article for her, and at seven o'clock on the morning 
of quarter-day, with all the eagerness of childhood, Victoria 
was seen riding down on her little donkey to secure the 
desired purchase. The guarantee which this little incident 
in the child gave against royal extravagance when she should 
become a queen, has been amply fulfilled. 

Three years after her accession, Victoria, to the general 
satisfaction of her people, married Albert, Prince of Saxe- 
Coburg and Gotha. 

For several years bad seasons, and consequently bad har- 
vests, had produced great distress throughout England. The 
condition of agricultural laborers and manufacturing opera- 
tives was dreadful in the extreme. The price of food was 
exorbitant, whilst wages were low, and employment scarce. 



894 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Many of the operatives united in Trade Associations, de- 
manding work and higher wages. Soon they held torchlight 
processions, burned factories, assaulted their employers, and 
showed a determination to obtain redress by physical force. 

One of the most formidable of these insurrections, was the 
strike of the Cotton-Spinners' Association in Glasgow. This 
took place in the spring of 1837, upon which, all the works 
of that description throughout Scotland were stopped, and 
more than fifty thousand persons deprived of the means of 
subsistence. New hands employed by the manufacturers, 
were so much intimidated by the conspirators, that they 
dared not enter the works. 

At length, information having been obtained of the number 
and place of meeting of the ringleaders, the sheriff of Lan- 
arkshire, with twenty policemen, succeeded in arresting the 
whole committee, numbering sixteen. No sooner were these 
men arrested than the intimidation ceased, and all the cotton- 
mills went again into operation. 

The evidence elicited on the trial of some of the conspira- 
tors, proved the existence of " secret select committees/ ' 
ready to perpetrate the most fearful crimes to attain the 
objects of- the strike. These disclosures roused public opinion; 
and since then, insurrections of this nature, however violent 
and formidable, have never been attended by secret organiza- 
tions for purposes of crime. - 

In the year 1838, the general discontent manifested itself 
in the serious political combination known as Chartism. A 
convention of Chartist deputies met in London, and presented 
to parliament a petition, called a charter, signed by over a 
million of men. This petition was drawn up on a cylinder 
of parchment, and literally rolled like a wheel into the house. 
It demanded the consideration of the six following points : — 
Universal Suffrage; Vote by Ballot; Paid Representatives 
in Parliament ; Equal Electoral Districts : The Abolition of 
a Property Qualification ; and Annual Parliaments. This 
charter was presented in June, 1839. 
- Meanwhile the violence of the ignorant operatives and 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 395 

deluded Chartists increased. Strange crimes began to abound 
— crimes perpetrated by miserable operatives in manufac- 
turing towns, or in the collieries, or by farm servants in the 
rural districts, who were maddened by hunger, and whose 
worst passions were acted upon by factious Chartists. -Mur- 
ders were committed for purposes of theft. Holes were bored 
in ships, that they might be cast away, and the wretched 
perpetrators share in the insurance money. Many of the 
unemployed resorted to the practice of opium-eating, to ward 
off the pangs of hunger. In fact, the condition of the work- 
ing-classes in England from the year 1839 to 1843 was truly 
frightful. The price of food, which was ascribed to the 
oppressive operation of the corn-laws, was so high, that in 
some districts the population was in a state bordering hard 
upon starvation. 

As early as the year 1815, parliament had passed a corn- 
law, by which no foreign grain was allowed to be imported, 
until the price of corn should have risen to 80s. per qr. 
This law was passed in reply to the clamors of the agricul- 
turists for protection. It was sorely oppressive to the manu- 
facturer, the merchant, and all other industrial classes of the 
country. It met with general approbation in parliament, 
where the landed interest was strong, but even there, it was 
said: " We cannot persuade ourselves that this law will ever 
contribute to produce plenty, cheapness, or steadiness of price, 
.... and to confine the consumer of corn to the produce of his 
own country, is to refuse to ourselves the benefit of that 
provision which Providence itself has made for equalizing to 
man the variations of season and of climate." 

Of course, these laws, affecting injuriously the mercantile 
and manufacturing classes, met with earnest and powerful 
opposition. To their operation was mainly ascribed the dis- 
tress prevailing throughout the country. In 1838, an Anti- 
Corn-Law-League was formed at Manchester, "for establishing 
the principles of free trade, especially in grain." It soon 
gained members all over the country, and among them were 
many able writers and speakers. They investigated the 



396 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

condition of the manufacturers and other classes, and the 
facts elicited were set forth in pamphlets, tracts, speeches, and 
ballads, which were distributed throughout the country, and 
had great weight with the people. 

The eight years following the formation of the League, 
witnessed much political agitation on the subject, which was 
greatly promoted by the distress prevailing throughout the 
country. Bad harvests for five successive seasons, Chartist 
and other insurrections, the failure of the potato crop, and 
finally the application of the principles of free trade to other 
articles of import, were the combined causes, which led event- 
ually to the repeal of the corn-laws. The measure was carried 
in parliament by Sir Robert Peel on the 16th of May, 1846. 

He had been for many years a firm opponent of the repeal 
of these duties. The abandonment of 'principles which he 
had avowed and supported during the whole of his previous 
political career, subjected him to no small amount of obloquy. 
Shortly after the passage of The Corn Law Repeal Bill, Sir 
Robert Peel resigned his omce as premier. In his last speech 
in parliament, after alluding to the censures which he had 
endured, he added the following consoling assurance : " But 
it may be that I shall be sometimes remembered with good- 
will in the abodes of those whose lot it is to labor, and to earn 
their daily bread by the sweat of their brow, when they shall 
recruit their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed 
food, the sweeter because it is no longer leavened with a 
sense of injustice." 

The passage of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill did 
not bring tranquillity to Ireland. One great cause of the 
disturbances remained. While six millions and a half of the 
population were Roman Catholics, the members of the church 
of England numbered but little over eight hundred and fifty 
thousand. Yet the church of England was by law established 
in Ireland, and the entire population, Roman Catholic and 
Protestant alike, were compelled to pay tithes for its support. 
In 1834 the revenues of the Establishment in that country 
were more than eight hundred thousand pounds — there were 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 397 

fourteen hundred parishes, of which forty-one did not contain 
a single Protestant, twenty had only five each, and one hun- 
dred and sixty-five could number only twenty-five each. Yet 
there were four Protestant archbishops and eighteen bishops. 
The Roman Catholic Church received no support by law. 
Its priests were poor, and the little which their poor parish- 
ioners could offer them — the cow, the pig, the sack of corn, 
or the bit of money — was carried off by a tithe collector, often 
backed by an armed police, to support the clergyman of the 
Establishment. No wonder, ^hen, that the Irish peasantry 
had little love for a church supported by such oppressive acts. 
Often in the attempt to collect* the tithes, the clergyman or 
his agent was assaulted or murdered, and dreadful deeds of 
revenge were perpetrated by the outraged tithe-payers. 

The necessity of doing something to remedy the miseries 
of Ireland was debated session after session in the British 
parliament. Between the years 1835 and 1840, a system of 
national education was introduced into Ireland with beneficial 
results. Under the administration of Lord Mulgrave the 
country enjoyed more of quiet and prosperity than had been 
known there since the union. 

During the years* 1841-43, Daniel O'Connell raised the cry 
for the repeal of the union throughout Ireland. The Repeal 
Association was formed. Among its members were collectors 
who received, under the name of rent, large sums of money 
in aid of this association. Meetings were held in every 
part of the country, and harangued by the repeal agitators. 
O'Connell, at a meeting held at Tara, in August, 1843, 
promised that within a year an " Irish parliament should be 
held in College Green, Dublin, and the hurrahs for repeal be 
heard over all the land." So great was the enthusiasm of 
the people, that the rent collections reached the almost in- 
credible sum of three thousand pounds a week. At length 
government interfered. A proclamation against a monster 
meeting summoned by O'Connell at Clontarf was published, 
and measures were taken to prevent the assembling of the 
people. A few days later, O'Connell and other leaders of the 
34 



398 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Repeal Association were arrested, and tried. They were con- 
victed of conspiracy, sedition, and unlawful assembling, but 
an appeal having been made against the sentence, some tech- 
nical difficulty was allowed by the judges to whom the last 
reference was had, and the prisoners, in consequence, were 
set at liberty. This magnanimity on the part of the British 
government had a great effect in lessening the moral influence 
which O'Counell possessed over his countrymen. His political 
sincerity was questioned, his popularity deserted him, and a 
few years later he died at Genoa. 

The temperance movement, begun by Father Matthew 
about the year 1841, exerted for the next four or five years a 
most beneficent influence upon Ireland. Drunkenness, and 
with it crime, rapidly decreased. Unfortunately this reform 
went hand in hand with the repeal agitation. When the 
latter failed, the cause of temperance languished, and there 
followed years of misery, crime, and famine. 

Sir Robert Peel attributed these calamities in a great 
measure to the want of a liberal provision for religious and 
secular education among the priests and people of that un- 
happy country. To supply this want, a bill for the estab- 
lishment of three colleges, at Belfast, Cork, and Limerick, 
was introduced and passed through parliament. To 
18*5'. i nsure *° the priests an education in their own land, 
another bill proposed an enlargement of the grant to 
Maynooth College. This institution, for the training of 
Roman Catholic priests in their own faith, had been founded 
in the year 1795, but the grant made to it, being only nine 
thousand pounds per annum, was inadequate to the numbers 
requiring education there ; nor could it secure a very high 
order of instruction. The bill for increasing the grant to 
Maynooth met with violent opposition, being regarded by 
many as injurious to the principles of the Protestant Reform- 
ation, and providing for the maintenance of religious error. 
It was carried, however, and the grant to the college increased 
to twenty-six thousand three hundred and eighty pounds. 

During the years 1846-7, one of the most terrible famines 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 399 

ever recorded in history spread over Ireland. This was owing 
to the failure of the potato crop, the staple food of the Irish 
laborer. The disease in the potato plant extended with 
such fearful rapidity, as often to convert in a single night 
acres of bloom into a mass of putrefaction. The scenes of 
suffering presented during this calamitous time were heart- 
rending. Often when the door of the wretched cabin was 
opened, there was found a whole family lying dead in a 
group. The wail of the starving arose in every district. The 
workhouse doors were besieged by famishing multitudes beg- 
ging for bread. Government, roused by the magnitude of 
the calamity, applied itself to immediate measures of relief. 
Above half a million of peasantry had been deprived of their 
usual food — potatoes. There was grain, but they had no 
money to buy it. To afford employment and wages to the 
laborer, government appropriated several millions sterling to 
the erection of public works in Ireland, and in March, 1847, 
seven hundred and thirty four thousand laborers found em- 
ployment, their aggregate wages amounting to two hundred 
thousand pounds. Large sums were subscribed for sending 
food to Ireland. All duties were taken off of grain, the 
navigation laws were suspended, so that relief might be trans- 
mitted immediately, and food imported from foreign countries. 
Yet with such fearful strides had disease and death followed 
in the train of famine, that hundreds died before relief could 
be brought to th'em, or perished from exhaustion before they 
could reach the public works. The scenes of horror exceeded 
anything which the pen of Dante or Defoe, or the canvas of 
Poussin, had depicted. In the words of Lord John Russell : 
" A famine of the thirteenth had fallen on the population of 
the nineteenth century." 

The conduct of the British government reflects the highest 
honor on its character for generous liberality. During these 
1846 y e&rs of wide-spread distress no less than eight mil- 
ami lions of pounds were bestowed upon Ireland, either 
in the form of public appropriations or private sub- 
scriptions. Nor were the people and government of the United 



400 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

States less liberal in their efforts to mitigate the horrors of the 
Irish famine. Private subscriptions were opened, large sup- 
plies of provisions collected, and shipped in a public armed 
vessel to the coast of Ireland. During the year of the famine, 
and those immediately succeeding, the immigration of the 
Irish to foreign shores was immense. The population, which 
in 1841 was over eight millions, is now (1860) but little over 
six. The Irish have left the land of their birth, to find 
subsistence in the country of strangers, but their affections 
still centre in the home they" have left. In proof of this, 
the remittances made to Ireland from her children abroad, 
amounted in the year 1853 to nearly seven millions of dollars. 
Theirs is the feeling which breathes so touchingly in the 
familiar song of " The Irish Emigrant's Lament :" 

" They say there's bread and work for all, 
And the sun shines always there, 
But I'll ne'er forget old Ireland, , 

Were it fifty times as fair." 

In July of 1848 an insurrection broke out in Ireland, 
headed by Smith O'Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher, and 
others. It had for its object the old aim, repeal of the union 
and restoration of the ancient constitution and native rule. 
This rebellion was put down with little difficulty on the part 
of the government. O'Brien and other leaders were arrested, 
tried, and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted 
to that of transportation for life. At the conclusion of the 
Russian war an amnesty was proclaimed, under which these 
political exiles, excepting only those who had broken their 
parole, returned to their country after an absence of eight 
years. 

Questions. — Describe the character of the young queen. — What 
was the condition of the laboring classes of England during the 
early years of her reign? — What did the Chartists demand? — What 
were the corn-laws ? — When were they repealed ? — Who was prime 
minister at that time ? — Repeat his remarks. 

What was the object of the Repeal Association? — Give the account 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 401 

of its suppression. — Give the history of the temperance movement 
in Ireland. — State the results of Sir Robert Peel's efforts for the 
promotion of education. — Relate the history of Maynooth College. — 
What caused the great famine in Ireland? — Describe this calamity. — 
What measures were taken by government for the relief of the suf- 
ferers ? — What effect had the famine upon immigration ? — What is 
said of the charity of the Irish emigrants ? — Relate the history 
of Smith O'Brien's insurrection. 



CHAPTER LXV. 

QUEEN VICTORIA. 

THE CHARTIST REBELLION — FOREIGN RELATIONS — TROUBLES IN TURKEY — 
MILITARY OPERATIONS. 

In the spring of 1848 occurred a revolution in France, by 
which the king, Louis Philippe, was driven from the throne. 
The success of this revolution in France, coupled with the 
great distress then prevailing throughout the manufacturing 
districts of England, encouraged the Chartists to renew their 
efforts to force their Charter upon the government. To afford 
the occasion for assembling, they got up a monster petition to 
be presented on the 10th of April by as many as could effect 
an entrance into the House of Commons. This point gained, 
they expected to intimidate government by their numbers, 
and to proclaim a republic. 

Under the orders and superintendence of the Duke of 
Wellington, every measure was taken to defeat this formidable 
attempt. A proclamation forbade more than ten persons to 
present a petition at any one time, and likewise asserted that 
any attempt to organize a procession in returning from the 
House of Commons would be stopped by force of arms. To 
provide for the carrying out of, these designs, large bodies of 
police were stationed at the several bridges by which the 
Chartists might pass from Kennington Common, where they 
were assembled, into Westminster. Cannon also and troops 
34* 2C 



402 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

were concealed in the vicinity. Regiments were kept in 
reserve at various other unseen points, and artillery was" in 
readiness at the Tower, to be conveyed on board armed 
steamers to any part of the metropolis which might require 
such defence. All the public offices were well guarded, and 
the Bank of England was occupied by bodies of infantry, and 
strongly barricaded. One hundred and seventy thousand 
special constables, previously trained for duty, were stationed 
throughout London ; and among these served on that import- 
ant occasion, Louis. Napoleon Bonaparte, the present emperor 
of the French. 

These wise precautions effectually frustrated the hopes and 
designs of the Chartists. Being informed by" a few resolute 
policemen that they might send their petition in a proper 
manner to the House, but that any attempt to pass the bridges 
in procession would be resisted, the large body of some fifty 
thousand men broke their ranks and gave up their attempt. 
A few bodies of Chartists tried to force their way into West- 
minster, but were repelled by the police, and by seven o'clock 
in the evening all had dispersed, and order and quiet reigned 
in the vast metropolis. The most violent Chartist leaders, 
who still kept up the spirit of insurrection in London, were 
seized during the course of the summer, tried, convicted, and 
transported for life. 

The year 1854 witnessed the strange spectacle of the 
armies of England and France contending, not against each 
other, as for centuries past, from the days of Crecy and of 
Agincourt, but unitedly in behalf of the threatened empire 
of Mohammed. If ever these nations had combined before, 
it had been in the days of the Crusades, to war against this 
very power whose existence they now joined to defend. This 
singular anomaly of European armies transported to the East, 
to fight for and with the Turk, arose from the following 
circumstances. 

The empire of the czars of Russia during several centuries 
had gone on increasing in power and dominion, until it 
swayed one-half of the continent of Europe, large territories 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 408 

in Asia, and threatened to become the predominant power in 
Christendom. In her career of conquest, Russia had come 
into collision with Turkey, and by military successes and sub- 
sequent treaties had gained important advantages. In fact, 
the provisions of the peace of Adrianople, concluded between 
Russia and the Porte in 1829, threatened the future inde- 
pendence, if not the very existence, of the Ottoman Empire. 

The aggrandizing spirit of Russia awakened the fears of 
England and France, as well as those of other powers on 
the shores of the Mediterranean. The dominions of the 
sultan on the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles were the chief 
barrier which prevented the czar's supremacy over the waters 
of Europe's great inland sea; these once passed, Russia would 
rival England as a naval power, and imperil moreover the 
empire of Great Britain in the East. These considerations 
induced the western powers of Europe to view with jealous 
eye the ambition of Russia. The circumstances which brought 
on the war, however, arose from a quarrel between the G-reek 
and Roman Catholic or Latin Churches, on the subject of the 
holy places at Jerusalem. 

Syria was a province of Turkey, but the sultan permitted 
both Greek and Latin Christians to maintain places for 
worship in the Holy City. There for centuries had been 
established churches, shrines, and grottoes commemorative 
of various scenes in our Saviour's life, sufferings, and death. 
Among these the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over 
the supposed site of the tomb of our Lord, was held especially 
sacred. For the exclusive possession of this holy place, the 
monks of the Greek and Latin churches kept up incessant 
disputings. Some idea of the extent of these disgraceful 
quarrels may be gathered from the following conversation, 
which took place between an English missionary and a Turk- 
ish pasha of Jerusalem, whom the former sought to convert to 
Christianity; '"'What are the advantages of your religion over 
mine ?" asked the pasha. " Peace on earth and glory after 
death," replied the missionary. " As to the latter," said the 
Turk, "our prophet promises that too; and for the peace on 



404 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

earth, the Church of the Sepulchre has a band of Greek 
Christians on the one side, and a band of Roman Christians 
on the other, and in the centre is a Turkish guard, to keep 
them from cutting each others' throats/' 

The Russian czar, Nicholas, as head of the Greek Church, 
and Louis Napoleon, as the representative and protector of 
the Latin Christians, demanded of the sultan for their re- 
spective churches exclusive privileges quite incompatible with 
each other. The sultan, Abdul-Medjid, was placed in an 
embarrassing position; — between two formidable and rival 
claimants, both of whom he was desirous to please. After 
much delay and perplexity he issued a firman (or decree) 
designed to be sufficiently liberal towards the Greek Church, 
and yet not so partial as to give umbrage to the Latin 
Christians. The Czar Nicholas, on the very day the firman 
was issued, demanded through his ambassador the right of 
absolute protection over all Greek Christians. This demand, 
it was asserted, implied the control over twelve millions of 
the sultan's subjects. It was refused by the Ottoman Porte. 
The western powers then interfered, and at the end of eight 
months of diplomatic negotiations, England and France an- 
nounced their intention to take up arms in aid of the sultan, 
against the "unprovoked aggression" of the czar. Then 
these western powers united as the ally of Turkey, and the 
troops of these nations saw service in strangely foreign parts. 

On the 4th of the preceding October, the New Year's day 
of the Mohammedans, the sultan's declaration of war against 
Russia had been read in all the mosques, and large Turkish 
armies were collected in the Danubian provinces and on the 
frontiers of Asia. In the wild mountain region of Caucasus 
the native tribes, to the number of twenty thousand, under 
their brave chief and prophet, Schamyl, united with a Turkish 
army to attack the Russians. The heroism of this mountain 
chief, and the enthusiasm which he awakened in his followers, 
occasioned severe reverses to the Russian arms during the 
year 1854. The latter, however, finally prevailed, and the 
czar triumphed in that quarter by the capture of the import- 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 405 

ant town of Kars, towards the close of 1855. The defence 
of this place had been conducted by the English General 
Williams. 

The operations which reflected greatest honor upon the 
armies of the sultan were performed in the Dobrudscha, an 
unhealthy district lying between the river Danube and the 
Black Sea. The Russians with a powerful army occupied the 
Danubian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the 
Turks, under Omar Pasha, in the autumn of 1853, addressed 
themselves to the difficult task of opposing their further 
advance upon the dominions of Turkey. The victory of 
Oltenitza, won in November, and other successes obtained 
during the winter, animated the spirits and courage of the 
Turks. In the spring of 1854 a Russian army laid siege to 
Silistria, an important town situated on the Danube. From 
the 11th of May to the 22d of June, the place was besieged. 
The defence was maintained with great spirit, skill, and 
bravery on the part of the Turks under the command of 
Mussa Pasha. At length the Russians — aware that the allied 
armies had reached Varna; that a detachment of French 
and English had been sent forward for the relief of Silistria ; 
and that the combined fleet had passed the Bosphorus; — raised 
the siege, and turned to the defence of their dominions, now 
formidably threatened, on the shores of the Black Sea. At 
the expiration of forty- two days, the Russian army, which at 
one time had numbered sixty thousand, and had thrown, from 
sixty pieces of ordnance, no less than fifty thousand shot and 
shell into the town, were forced to abandon the first siege of 
this campaign, the defence having been maintained by the 
skill and valor of Turks alone. 

Meanwhile the armies of the English and French allies 
had arrived in Turkey. Owing to lamentable mismanage- 
ment on the part of the commissariat, when the troops 
reached that country no adequate provision had been made 
for their support. This neglect occasioned a vast amount 
of suffering, especially at Yarna, a port on the Black Sea, 
where the allied forces were quartered from June until 



406 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

August, 1854. The soldiers were in want of tents, proper 
food, bedding, and medical, stores. During the stay at Varna, 
the cholera and typhus fever broke out, and these frightful 
diseases, spreading through the camps and in the fleets, added 
to the intense sufferings which the allied armies endured 
throughout the entire war. 

Questions. — Mention the circumstances which led to the Chartist 
insurrection. — What were the designs of the Chartists? — What pre- 
parations were made to resist them ? — State the result. — Describe 
the progress of Russian power and dominion. — What powers were 
threatened by the aggrandizement of Russia? — State the causes 
which awakened the fears of the English government. — State the 
circumstances which were the immediate occasion of the war. 

Name the two powers which united with Turkey. — When did the sul- 
tan declare war? — What is said of the operations in the Caucasus? — 
Relate the success of the Turks in the Danubian provinces. — Describe 
the siege and defence of Silistria. — What led to the abandonment of 
the siege? — Describe the condition of the allied troops in Turkey. — 
To what was this owing ? — Mention other causes of suffering. 



CHAPTER LXVI. 

QUEEN VICTORIA. 

ENGLISH TROOPS IN THE CRIMEA — ALMA — THE SIEGE OP SEBASTOPOL — 
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. 

On the Crimea, a peninsula extending into the Black Sea, 
stood the Russian naval depot of Sebastopol. Powerful forts, 
mounting from sixty to one hundred and ninety guns each, 
commanded the fine harbor in which floated a fleet, the second 
if not the first in importance of the Russian navy. Besides 
the commanding batteries of Forts Constantine and Alexander, 
which crowned the northern and southern points of the en- 
trance to the great harbor, that entrance was further protected 
by sunken ships, which effectually barred it against the allied 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 407 

fleet. To capture this stronghold of the czar, and destroy the 
Russian fleet, thus rendering it impossible for Russia to obtain 
naval supremacy in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, was 
the grand object of the allied governments. 

An army consisting of twenty-seven thousand English, 
twenty-five thousand French, and eight thousand Turkish 
troops, landed in the Crimea on the 14th September, 1854, 
and on the 19th commenced its march towards Sebastopol, 
which lay about thirty miles to the south of the place of 
debarkation. The route was crossed by three small rivers, 
the most northerly of which was the Alma ; on the heights 
which rise from this stream, Prince Mentschikoff, with from 
forty-five to fifty thousand Russian troops, awaited the ap- 
proach of the allied forces. The latter were commanded by 
the English Lord Raglan and the French Marshal de St. 
Arnaud. During a halt on the march, St. Arnaud, as he 
rode past the fifty-fifth regiment of the allies, exclaimed : 
" English ! I hope you will fight well to-day !" " Hope I" 
shouted a voice from the ranks, " sure, you know we will." 

About half past one o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th, 
the French and English divisions began the assault on the 
strong position of the enemy, partially entrenched on the 
heights of Alma. These formidable heights were defended 
by large masses of Russian infantry, and a powerful and 
numerous artillery. They were won by the valor of the 
French and English soldiers, after a sharp contest which 
lasted about three hours. The French Zouaves under G-ene- 
ral Bosquet, the English artillery under Sir George Brown, 
and the Highland brigade under Sir Colin Campbell, were 
conspicuous for their brilliant conduct during this action. 
The divisions displayed a rivalry for the first occupancy of 
the enemy's redoubts. " We'll hae none but Highland 
bonnets here !" exclaimed the brave veteran Sir Colin, as, far 
in advance of his men, he rushed on to take possession of the 
battery of the defeated enemy. After the battle of the 
Alma the allies pursued their march towards Sebastopol. 

Finding; no harbor on the north side of the town which 



408 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

might serve as a refuge for their transports, and a depot for 
their supplies, the allies made a flank march to the left, and, 
turning Sebastopol, seized the village and harbor of Balaklava, 
about six miles to the south of it. From the 28th of Septem- 
ber until the 10th of October, the allies were engaged chiefly 
in landing their siege trains and stores, and making prepara- 
tions for the attack. The greater part of the French army 
landed at Kamiesch Bay, and their divisions during the first 
weeks of the siege were posted chiefly to the west and south- 
west of Sebastopol, whilst the English were in strongest posi- 
tion on the south and south-east of the town. 

The entrance to Sebastopol on the south was open and 
quite unprotected. Above the town on that side arose heights 
commanding the harbor, dockyards, and arsenal buildings, 
which, if secured by an enemy, would render the place un- 
tenable. The Russians seized these heights and erected 
upon them their lines of defence, and it now became the 
object of the allies to drive them from these hills and secure 
possession for themselves. Under cover of night on the 10th 
of October, the allies dug their first trench two thousand 
yards from the Russian defences. 

A trench is a sort of ditch or sunken road, three feet in 
depth, and of sufficient dimensions to allow the passage of men 
and cannon. The earth thrown up from the excavation forms 
a breastwork, which, from the bottom of the ditch, is about six 
feet high, thus affording an effectual covering to the troops 
within the trench, against the shot of the enemy's guns. At 
certain intervals are constructed batteries or platforms on 
which guns are mounted. These are placed in such position 
as to fire with effect upon the defences of the besieged. A 
second trench is dug parallel to the first (and for that reason 
technically named a parallel), and still nearer to the place in 
siege. This also is provided with batteries, and communicates 
with the first trench by diagonal cuts called zigzags or ap- 
proaches. In this manner, during the siege of Sebastopol, 
trench after trench was dug, until the approaches of the allies 
were made up to the very edge of the Russian defences. 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 409 

Whilst the works of the besiegers were in progress, the 
Russians on their part were actively engaged in mounting 
artillery behind similar works constructed on the heights 
which they had occupied above the town. Among these 
defences, which at intervals surrounded and commanded Se- 
bastopoi in a semicircular line, were those which became so 
famous under the names of the Malakoff Tower, the Great 
and the Little Redan, &c. Not only did the Russians erect 
and man the above-named positions, but they even advanced 
six hundred yards beyond them, to a hill thirty feet higher 
than the Malakoff. On this height, called the Mamelon, 
with great skill and boldness they erected batteries, thus 
advancing, upon the works of the allies as the latter drew 
their approaches nearer the Russian line. It would perhaps 
be impossible to exaggerate the difficulties encountered by 
both armies in constructing these siege works and defences ; 
in some places the almost incredible labor of digging trenches 
through limestone rock was performed, whilst the earth to 
form the parapets was actually conveyed in bags and baskets 
from a distance of seven hundred yards. The approaches 
of the allies, moreover, were greatly retarded by frequent 
sorties of the Russians, filling up the trenches and spiking 
the guns. The latter operation consists in driving a round 
steel file firmly into the vent of the piece, so that it is 
impossible to discharge it. 

The contest to destroy the artillery mounted in the re- 
spective works engaged both parties during the entire siege. 
Until the allies had thus succeeded, and gained the mastery 
over the Russian guns, there was no probability of success in 
an assault. 
, _" At half past six o'clock on the morning of the 17th 

October, the French and English batteries began the 
first of the seven bombardments which during the siege they 
opened upon the defences of Sebastopol. During this first 
bombardment, the Malakoff Tower, a small building only 
capable of holding about a hundred men, was nearly destroyed 
by the guns of the allies. About its ruins was erected the 
35 



410 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Korniloff Bastion, the assault and carrying of which, and not 
of the Malakoff Tower, as usually stated, was the great and 
final achievement of the siege. 

On the 25th of October, a sortie of thirty-five thousand 
Russians seized some redoubts which were erected on hills 
that crossed the valley of Balaklava. The Turks charged 
with the defence of these forts fled, and the enemy, after 
taking possession of them, continued their advance towards 
the town of Balaklava. They were met and driven back by 
the English cavalry. Before the day was over occurred that 
brilliant but fatal action so well known as " The Charge of 
the Light Brigade." 

Acting under a misapprehended order from Lord Raglan, 
to advance upon the guns of the enemy, Lord Cardigan with 
his light cavalry charged over a plain a mile and a half in 
length, directly in the face of the foe. The Russians were 
in strong position, and scarcely had this devoted band begun 
their advance before a deadly fire from thirty pieces of artil- 
lery was opened upon them. The first line was broken, but 
the second closed up, and "with ranks thinned by those 
thirty Russian guns, — with a halo of flashing steel above 
their heads,-' — 



[ Charging an army, while 

All the world wonder'd : 
Plunged in the battery-smoke 
Right through the line they broke ; 
Cossack and Russian 
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke, 

Shatter'd and sunder'd. 
Then they rode back — but not, 
Not the six hundred." 



Later in the year occurred another Russian sortie. On the 
heights of Inkermann, on the extreme right of the allied 
position, were a few outposts of the English but slightly 
guarded. These were surprised by a large body of Russians 
on the morning of the 5th of November, and a fearful and 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 411 

sanguinary action ensued. " The battle of Inkerrnann," says 
Russell, " admits of no description. It was a series of 
dreadful deeds of daring, of sanguinary hand-to-hand fights. 
of despairing rallies, of desperate assaults — in glens and 
valleys, in brushwood glades and remote dells, and from 
which the conquerors, Russian or British, issued only to 
eno-ao-e fresh foes," until at the end of six hours the bat- 
talions of the czar gave way before the desperate valor of the 
French infantry, who about ten o'clock came to 4he aid of 
their hard-fought and still hard-fighting allies. 

In the following year, on the 7th of June, 1855, the 
French troops stormed and carried the Russian works on 
the Mamelon. But this great success was not achieved 
without a fearful loss of life. Some accounts state the loss 
of the French in this assault alone, at three thousand seven 
hundred in killed and wounded. 

About a month previous to the capture of the Mamelon a 
body of Sardinian troops arrived in the Crimea, and took 
part in the siege. On the 16th of August a Russian sortie 
was made upon the outposts of these new allies, as also upon 
the French lines upon the banks of the river Tchernaya. 
It resulted in a brief but important action, in which the 
Russians were repulsed with a loss of some nine thousand 
men, and the allies gained a nearer approach to the devoted 
town. Such are a few of the incidents of this memorable 
siege, carried on during twelve long and weary months. 

And now the approaches of the allies had gained the edge 
of the enemy's defences. From the French trench in front 
of the Malakoff one might lay his hand on the abattis of the 
Korniloff Bastion. The final, the successful assault was at 
hand. As soon as day dawned on the 5th of September, 
1855, the final bombardment was opened, with eight hundred 
pieces, upon the defences of Sebastopol. For three days it 
was maintained with concerted irregularity. These changes 
in the mode of fire, from slow to quick, and from an entire 
suspension to ordinary, accelerated, and rapid rate, were de- 
signed to leave the enemy no means of forming a judgment 



412 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

of the moment of the expected assault. In the bewilderment 
thus occasioned, lay the only hope of success for the com- 
mander-in-chief. Nor was he disappointed. Precisely at 
noon on the 8th of September, with dauntless bravery and 
enthusiasm, amid cries of " Vive L'Empereur," the French 
troops under Pelissier rushed to the assault of the Korniloff 
Bastion (the so-called Malakoff Tower). For a few anxious 
moments they disappeared in descending into the trenches, 
and in whirlwinds of dust, but when they emerged it was to 
plant the colors of France upon the ramparts of the enemy. 

Reverse and defeat attended the operations of both the 
French and English at the Great and Little Redan, and at 
every other point of attack. The secret of the success at the 
Malakoff lay in the power that accompanies the chief who 
commands, and calls to his aid all the resources far and near, 
while his subordinates have but the special troops assigned 
them to depend upon. If any comparison be drawn in rela- 
tion to the failures at the several unsuccessful points, it would 
seem that the English under General Windham possessed and 
contrived to hold the Great Redan, for a longer period and 
with a more determined resistance than was effected in any 
of the positions attacked by the French troops. Success 
crowned the efforts of the commander-in-chief, although no 
one of his heroic generals could accomplish the task assigned 
them. And success at the Korniloff was victory. Sebastopol 
was no longer tenable. 

During the night the Russians quietly withdrew across the 
harbor A few hours later, and upon the darkness of the 
night burst forth the flames of the burning city, and the fear- 
ful sounds of explosion arose from magazines and batteries. 
When the allies entered Sebastopol it was a city of ruins. Of 
the Russian enemy, says Russell : "He left us few trophies 
and many bitter memories." The proclamation of peace 
reached the allied armies in Sebastopol on the 2d of April, 
and a few weeks later the troops returned to their respective 
countries. They left in the soil of the Crimea the graves of 
many, many thousands of their comrades. 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 413 

We would not close this brief account of the Crimean 
expedition, without an allusion to Florence Nightingale — that 
heroic woman who devoted herself with so much skill and 
tenderness to the relief of the sick and the wounded. Nor 
was the alleviation of individual suffering the only or indeed 
the greatest good effected by the labors of this self-denying 
woman. She was the means of awakening governments and 
nations to a sense of the fearful responsibility of sending 
armies into foreign climates, to undertake long and dangerous 
military operations, without adequate supplies of medical 
stores, and the means of removing the wounded from the 
field of battle. 

All these privations in their worst form the Crimean army 
was called to endure. There was feariul suffering at Scutari, 
at Varna, and in the camp before Sebastopol. " All the 
pictures ever drawn of plague and pestilence," says the cor- 
respondent of the London Times, " from the work of the 
inspired writer who chronicled the woes of infidel Egypt, 
down to the narratives of Boccaccio, Defoe, or Moltke, fall 
short of individual ' bits' of disease and death, which any one 
might see in half a dozen places during half an hour's walk 
in Balaklava!" "At the close of 1854 there were three 
thousand five hundred sick in the British camp before Sebas- 
topol, caused mostly by hard work in bad weather, in trenches 
like canals, and in which the men were saturated to the 
skin." 

Florence Nightingale was the daughter of an English 
gentleman of good family and estate Some accounts assert 
that she is of the same age as the English queen. Others, 
that she was born in Florence four years later than Victoria, 
and received her name in memory of that fair Italian city. 
From childhood she exhibited a sympathy with the weak, the 
suffering, the destitute, and the desolate. Her ministry of 
love began early in the schools and among the poor of the 
parishes where she resided. In later years she frequented 
the hospitals of London and Edinburgh, and finally, in 1851, 
she repaired to the celebrated German Lutheran Hospital, 
35* 



414 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

established at Kaiserwerth, near Diisseldorf, on the Rhine. 
Here she went through a thorough course of instruction and 
practice, passing several months in daily and nightly attend- 
ance upon the sick and the afflicted. 

From the Hospital at Kaiserwerth no person receives a 
certificate to practise as a nurse, without having first been 
subjected to a severe examination. Through this ordeal Miss 
Nightingale passed triumphantly. Pasteur Fliedner, the head 
of the establishment, declared that since his acquaintance with 
the institution no one had ever gone through so distinguished 
an examination, or shown herself so thoroughly mistress of all 
she had to learn, as Florence Nightingale. Thus was she 
fitted by accumulated experience for the noble mission to 
which God's providence called her in the Crimean war. 

At the request of the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, Miss 
Nightingale accepted the control of the entire establishment 
for the nursing of British soldiers and sailors, the sick, the 
wounded, and the suffering in that trying campaign. By a 
singular coincidence, the same day upon which this proposal 
was made to her, she had herself written to Mr. Herbert, 
volunteering her services for the self-denying work. 

On the 24th of October, 1854, with a band of thirty-seven 
nurses, she left England. In passing through France, they 
were received with the most gratifying demonstrations of 
respect and admiration : in many instances hotel-keepers de- 
clining to make their customary charges, and all classes mani- 
festing the deepest interest and sympathy in their mission. 

Miss Nightingale reached Scutari on the 5th of November, 
just before the wounded in the action of Balaklava were 
brought down. From that time, until the end of the war, she 
devoted herself, amid innumerable trials and discouragements, 
arising from the want of proper supplies and medical stores, 
to the care and nursing of the sick and wounded. Her very 
presence was a blessing. Said one poor soldier : " Before she 
came, there was such cursin' and swearin' ) and after that, it 
was as holy as a church." 

" When all the medical officers had retired for the night, 



QUEEN VICTORIA. 415 

and silence and darkness had settled down upon those miles 
of prostrate sick, she might be observed alone, with a little 
lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds/' One poor 
fellow, describing the comfort it was, even thus to see Florence 
pass, said : " She would speak to one and to another, and nod 
and smile to as many more; — but she couldn't do it to all, 
you know ; we lay there by hundreds ; but we could 7ciss her 
shadow as it fell, and lay our heads on our pillows again 
content !" 

"On England's annals, through the long 
Hereafter of her speech and song, 
That light its rays shall cast 
From portals of the past 

" A lady with a lamp shall stand 
In the great history of the land, 
A noble type of good 
Heroic womanhood." 

Questions. — Describe the position and defences of Sebastopol. — 
Why was the capture of this place important to the allies? — When 
and with what force did they land in the Crimea? — Describe the 
battle of the Alma. — Give an account of the further advance of the 
allies. — Describe their position at Balaklava. — Where were erected 
the Russian lines of defence? — Describe the trenches and siege- 
works of the allies. 

Name and describe the defences of the Russians.— State some of 
the difficulties encountered by both parties.— What was the object 
of both during the siege ?— What was the result of the first bombard- 
ment?— Repeat the account of the action at Balaklava.— Of the 
battle of Inkermann. — When was the Mamelon carried ?— What led 
to the battle of the Tchernaya ?— Describe the final assault on Sebas- 
topol.— When did the allies leave the Crimea ?— Relate the account 
given of Florence Nightingale. 



416 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER LXVII. 

/ 

ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

It would be impossible within the limits of a small volume, 
much less of a single chapter, to give any adequate description 
of the condition of England during this age of wonderful 
development and progress. We can but glance at a few 
prominent incidents in those departments of social improve- 
ment, which in other centuries have been considered more at 
length. 

The most pleasing feature in the history of religion during 
the present period, has been the establishment of societies for 
the promotion of the Christian faith, and the spread of its 
glorious light throughout the world. Of these, noblest in de- 
sign and success is "The British and Foreign Bible Society. " 
God chose a little child to be the instigator of this mighty 
enterprise. 

A Welsh girl, tripping over her native hills, was met by 
the Rev. Mr. Charles of Bala. He stopped the child, and 
asked if she could tell him the text on which he had preached 
the preceding Sunday. The little girl hung her head as she 
replied that she had not been able to get at the Bible that 
week. On inquiring the reason, the clergyman found that 
there was but one Bible within several miles, and that this 
child was in the habit of walking a long distance every week, 
over rugged mountain paths, for the privilege of reading the 
word of God. 

The fact that a large district of Great Britain was destitute 
of Bibles, made a deep impression on the mind of Mr. Charles. 
He visited London and spoke of it to others : Christian hearts 
were roused, nor was it long before the resolution was made 
to print and sell Bibles at such prices as would enable the 
poor to obtain them. Thus began, in 1804, with a subscrip- 
tion of only three thousand dollars, "The British and Foreign 



ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 417 

Bible Society/' which now has a revenue of nearly eight 
hundred thousand dollars, and has circulated thirty-seven 
millions of Bibles and Testaments. 

The operations of those societies already established in 
England for the promotion of Christianity, were greatly 
extended, whilst new institutions for the same noble purpose 
were founded both by the Established Church and by dis- 
senters. By the exertions of such societies in England and 
America, the blessings of Christianity have been carried to 
the remotest colonies of Great Britain, and to many heathen 
lauds. Christian schools have been founded, and Christianity 
preached in China, amid the jungles of India, the sands of 
Africa, and the isles of the Pacific. The Sandwich Islands 
have become Christianized, and of barbarous New Zealand it 
is beautifully recorded : " the lion has been converted into 
the lamb, and the lamb has been gathered into the fold of the 
Redeemer." 

Sunday-schools, for the instruction of the young, first 
founded in 1780, by Robert Raikes, have become so general, 
that there is scarcely a parish or religious society throughout 
England or the United States, in which they do not now exist. 

In the train of Christianity 

"Steals on, large-hearted Charity, 
Tempering her gifts, that seem so free, 

By time and place, 
Till not a woe the bleak world see, 

But finds her grace." 

We cannot dwell upon all that she has been doing in this 
our clay — the institutions that men, animated by her pure 
spirit, have founded for the sick, the blind, the afflicted, and 
the outcast. 

One such noble institution, " The Metropolitan Lunatic 
Asylum/' at Hanwell, must stand as a type of others. Here 
for the first time in England the barbarous system of coercing 
the insane, gave place to that of judicious medical treatment. 
Instead of being chained in cells, and left in idleness, a prey 

2D 



418 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

to the fancies of their own disordered intellects, employment 
has been furnished according to the abilities of the inmates : 
the men engaged in gardening and building; the women 
made happy by the industry of the needle. 

In the history of literature during the past half century, an 
interesting feature has been the new style of periodical review. 
The first which appeared was " The Edinburgh Review," 
established in 1802 by the Rev. Sydney Smith, Messrs., 
afterwards Lords Jeffrey and Brougham, and other men of 
distinguished talent. The contributors to the columns of 
this periodical were Whigs, who advocated successively the 
great reform questions of the day. The boldness and ability 
of their writings gave no little support to the promoters of 
the abolition of slavery, the repeal of the corn-laws, &c. " The 
Quarterly Review/' a Tory publication, was established in 
London in the year 1809. It is distinguished for beauty of 
literary composition, and its columns have been enriched by 
the genius of Sir Walter Scott, Southey, and Lord Canning. 
" Blackwood's Magazine," designed to counteract the Whig 
influence of " The Edinburgh Review," was set up in 1817 
by its able editor, Professor Wilson, so well known as " Chris- 
topher North." 

In the year 1827 " The Society for promoting the Diffusion 
of Useful Knowledge" commenced its noble career. It was 
founded mainly by the exertions, of Mr. Brougham, Lord 
John Russell, and the benevolent Friend, William Allen, in 
order to effect the publication, in a cheap form, of elementary 
treatises on scientific subjects; — such as the workingman could 
understand and profit by. 

The society has since greatly extended its operations. 
Through the efforts of Mr. Knight in conjunction with it, 
such valuable works as "The Penny Magazine," "The Penny 
Cyclopedia," and " The Library of Entertaining Knowledge," 
and many others of an equally useful character, have been 
given to the world. 

In the useful and industrial, as well as in the fine arts, the 
improvements and discoveries of the last fifty years well-nigh 



ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 419 

surpass those of all preceding centuries combined. From the 
invention of lucifer matches up to the wonders of steam and 
the electric telegraph, each year seems to unfold some ever 
new and marvellous triumph of the genius of man over the 
world of matter. • 

In the year 1811, "The Comet," the first British steamboat, 
was launched upon the Clyde, and now one-half the navy of 
Great Britain consists of steam-vessels of war. Steamboats 
ply by hundreds around the British islands. The voyage to 
America only occupies ten days, and that to India, which once 
required three or four months, is now reduced to six weeks. 
In less than fifty years after " The Comet/' "The Great 
Eastern," 700 feet in length, of 22,000 tons burthen, with a 
power equal to 11,000 horses, and room for the transportation 
of 10,000 troops, has made her first passage across the Atlantic 
in eleven days. 

"The first successful experiment of a steam-carriage propelled 
over an iron railway, was performed in the year 1805, at 
Merthyr Tydvil, in Wales. On this occasion the locomotive 
moved at the rate of five miles an hour, drawing ten tons of 
coal. Several years passed before the construction of a rail- 
way for travelling. On the 15th September, 1830, the Liver- 
pool and Manchester Railroad was opened. Now many thou- 
sand miles of railway spread over the surface of England, and 
intersect it like a net-work : first-class carriages give ease to 
the traveller, whilst with security and comfort he pursues his 
journey at the rate of less than one and a half penny per mile. 

In triumphs of architecture, especially as exhibited in the 
construction of great public works, the age has been peculiarly 
fruitful. Among such works may be mentioned, the famous 
Thames Tunnel, the Tubular and Suspension Bridges over 
the Menai Straits, the new Houses of Parliament, and several 
of the beautiful bridges over the Thames. Of the latter, 
Waterloo, erected, as the name would intimate, in the year 
1815, was declared by Canova to be the finest bridge in 
Europe, and alone worth the journey from Rome to London 
to see. 



420 HISTORY OF EiNGLAiND. 

A marvel of this age, which has scarcely yet ceased to 
astonish the world, is the electric telegraph This wonderful 
application of the power of electro-magnetism was first made 
in the United States in the year 1832. Its earliest introduc- 
tion into England was in 1840. Along these wires messages 
are transmitted, almost with the rapidity of thought, and 
there is scarcely a village in England where communications 
may not be forwarded by telegraph. 

In closing this brief review, we would not omit all mention 
of the Crystal Palace, that remarkable monument of social 
progress, which has well been named the last wonder of the 
world. 

To the Prince Consort of England is due the praise of 
having originated the grand idea of an " Exhibition of the 
Industry of all Nations." To Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) 
Paxton belongs the honor of having designed the marvellous 
structure of iron and glass, wherein might be exhibited fa'ir 
samples of the world's art and industry. This, the largest 
compact building on the face of the earth, was erected in 
Hyde Park, London, in less than nine months, out of mate- 
rials hitherto wholly untried in the great constructions of 
ancient or modern times. 

" Like Arabia's matchless palace, 
Child of magic's strong decree, 
One vast globe of living sapphire, 
Floor, walls, columns, canopy." 

Nor was the exhibition within unworthy of the beautiful 
structure There, during the summer of 1851, was repre- 
sented all that was most excellent in use or beauty of the 
industry of all lands. Literally one hundred nations from 
Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and the fifth continent, 
Australia, united in the celebration of this jubilee of art. 
From the 1st day of May, when the queen in person opened 
to her subjects and to the world the portals of this marvellous 
palace, so great was the throng of admiring visitors, from 
every rank and class in society, and almost from every quarter 



ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 421 

of the globe, that the great exhibition o,' 1851 was aptly 
named " The World's Fair." To the looker-on in London, it 
might have seemed as if the world had indeed given itself a 
holiday, and gone thither to enjoy it. 

When the exhibition was over, many schemes were devised 
for the future disposition of the building. At length, in May 
of 1852, the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park was purchased by a 
private company of English gentlemen. They designed that 
this noble structure " should rise again, greatly enhanced in 
grandeur and beauty ; that it should form a palace for the 
multitude, where, to the inhabitants of London especially, 
should be afforded, in wholesome country air, amidst the 
beauties of nature, the elevating treasures of art, and the 
instructive marvels of science, an accessible and inexpensive 
substitute for the injurious and debasing amusements of a 
crowded metropolis." 

The Crystal Palace rising amid the natural beauties of 
Sydenham, in Kent, within a few miles of London, has amply 
fulfilled this noble design. The palace and its grounds occupy 
two hundred acres. To the lover of out-door beauty, parterres 
filled with the richest and gayest flowers, green terraces, 
fountains, parks, lakes, and every attraction of landscape- 
gardening, allure in this fascinating spot. To the lover of art 
there exists within a world of interest and delight. And yet 
so simple is the arrangement of the treasures within this 
mighty edifice, that there is no confusion, — nothing inharmo- 
nious. In the fine arts and industrial courts and galleries, 
the visitor, whether a man of science or of literature — poet, 
painter, sculptor, artisan, or mechanic, may learn, as it were 
in epitome, of all that his fellow-man has accomplished, almost 
from the first dawn of civilization down to the present moment. 

In the great nave, sixteen hundred and eight feet in length, 
is beheld a glorious vista of fountains and foliage, flowers and 
statuary. On either side, tiers of pendant baskets filled with 
graceful vines and richest bloom, perfume the air with deli- 
cious fragrance. The ear is regaled with the singing of birds, 
the playing of the grand organ, or the music of the orchestra, 
3G 



422 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

or, if these are hushed, with the refreshing sound of the 
fountains. Prominent in the foreground of the picture rises 
the transparent fountain of glass, which, glittering with all 
the colors of the rainbow, and towering from a solid base up 
to a point, pours its unceasing streams upon the crystal basin 
below. In this sheet of water float the gigantic leaves of the 
Victoria Regia. In the basins of other fountains are to be 
found rare and curious aquatic plants, water-lilies, gold-fish, 
and in some basins all the curiosities of the aquarium. 

Beds or borders ranging on either side of the nave, in front 
of the various courts, contain the rich botanical treasures of 
the palace. In these groves may be found the trees and 
shrubs and plants of almost every clime. Their waving foli- 
age forms a pleasing background to the numerous specimens 
of statuary, which singly or in sculptured groups, adorn the 
whole extent of this magnificent nave. And over all, height- 
ening immeasurably the effect of this scene of beauty, stretches 
the arched roof, with its delicate aerial tint, spanning the 
whole as it were with a vault of opal. 

Thus stands the Crystal Palace — an enduring monument 
of a new and wonderful architecture, a permanent palace of 
education and art for the use of mankind, and an ample ful- 
fillment of the noblest designs of its foundation. 

"Forms of beauty, shapes of wonder, 
Trophies of triumphant toil ; 
Never Athens, Rome, Palmyra, 
Gazed on such a costly spoil." 

Questions. — Mention the most prominent features in the history 
of religion during this period. — Relate the account of the origin of 
the Bible Society. — When and by whom were Sunday-schools found- 
ed ? — What is said of the reviews and magazines of this time ? 

By whom was the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 
established? — What valuable works has it published? — What is re- 
marked of the improvements and discoveries of this century? — What 
mention is made of steam-vessels ? — Relate what is said of railways. 
— Name some of the architectural triumphs of this age. — Repeat the 
account, given of the electric telegraph. — Repeat the description 
given of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. 



INDIA. 423 



PART XII. 

COLONIAL. 
A. D. 1801—1860. 

Look to the East, where Ganges' swarthy race 
Shall shake 3'our mighty empire to its base. 
Lo ! there Rebellion rears her ghastly head, 
And glares the Nemesis of native dead." 



CHAPTER LXVIIL 

INDIA. 

MAHRATTA WARS — BURMESE WARS — THE AFGHAN INVASION AND DISASTER. 

At the opening of the nineteenth century we find the 
extent and importance of the British dependencies so greatly 
increased, that from this date a separate chapter will be 
devoted to the colonial history of Great Britain. First in 
importance is India. 

During the first quarter of the century upon which we 
have entered, the English were engaged in wars with various 
robber tribes of Hindostan, and in an important contest with 
the Burmese empire. Among the native powers which most 
formidably threatened the Company's territories in India, 
were the Mahrattas, the Grhoorkas, and the Pindarrees. 

The sway of the Mahrattas extended over a population of 
forty millions; their frontier on the north reaching to the 
Indus and the Himmalayas, and on the south nearly to the 
extremity of the Indian peninsula. They had overthrown the 
power of the Great Mogul, and spread devastation, tyranny, 
and anarchy throughout the land. 



424 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

It was in wars with the Mahrattas, tfiat Sir Arthur 

1803. ' 

Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, laid the 
foundation of his military fame. In the great battle of 
Assaye, won in September, 1803, against overwhelming num- 
bers of the enemy, began the victories of the " Iron Duke" — 
the hero of Waterloo; the conqueror of Napoleon. General 
Lake, another of the East India Company's able soldiers, 
defeated an army of French and natives in a battle fought 
within sight of the palaces and minarets of Delhi, and restored 
the Mohammedan sovereign to his throne. These victories 
broke the power of this formidable tribe. 

The Company, anxious to pursue a policy of peace and 
conciliation towards the natives, and thus to avoid the expense 
of conquest, authorized a treaty with the Mahrattas, which 
was far too favorable in its concessions to the conquered 
enemy. The moral influence of such a treaty over a 
vain-glorious and treacherous people, who are to be 
trusted as subjects, allies, and neighbors, only so long as they 
are kept in awe, was extremely prejudicial to the Company's 
interests in India. Ten years later the Mahrattas organized 
a formidable confederacy against British power. 

Meanwhile the English had come into collision with the 
Grhoorkas, a warlike tribe, inhabiting the mountain regions 
of Nepaul, in the northern part of India. They were superior 
in skill and bravery to any Hindoo people whom the con- 
querors had yet encountered, and at first their unlooked-for 
valor made even British troops recoil. In the end they were 
defeated, and entered into a treaty, by which a large district 
of country lying east of the Sutlej River was added to the 
British dominions. 

Scarcely had the Grhoorka war ended, before the English 
troops were required to take the field against the powerful 
Mahrattas and their confederates — the active, cruel Pindar- 
rees. These latter were bands of cavalry gathered from every 
part of India. They would burst upon the cultivated plains 
and rich villages of the Company's territory, with all the 
suddenness and fury of a whirlwind. They came and were 



INDIA. 425 

gone, leaving behind them rum, devastation, and death. 

Truly of them it might he said : iC The land is as the garden 

of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness." 

*o„,» Vigorous measures for the destruction of these 

1816 ° 

and cruel banditti were taken by the Indian government. 
1817. rphgy were p UrS ued and surrounded by the troops of 
the Presidencies ; were cut off from their Mahratta confede- 
rates; sustained successive defeats, and at length, when 
Chutoo, the most daring of the robber chieftains, had fallen 
by a death more fearful than that upon the battle-field, — a 
prey to the fierce tiger in the lonely jungle, — he was the last 
warrior of the Pindarrees. By the year 1818, the power of 
these marauders was subdued. In those provinces which had 
been so long devastated by war, rapine, and cruelty, order and 
tranquillity were established, and the inhabitants had reason 
to bless the new rule, under which they might sow and reap 
their fields, without fear of the Pindarree robber or the harsh 
Mahratta master. 

Between the years 1823-1826, during the administration 
of Lord Amherst, war was carried on with the Burmese. In 
the year 1798, ten thousand wretched Burmese had rushed 
across the frontier, and implored, in British territory, protec- 
tion from the intolerable oppression of their own government 
These poor people declared they would flee to the recesses of 
the pestilent jungle, and there, amid the haunts of the lion 
and the tiger, subsist on leaves and reptiles, rather than 
return to live again under Burmese tyranny. 

The British government, though alarmed at their numbers, 
could not refuse a shelter to the starving suppliants. Waste 
lands were appropriated to their use, and a settlement of forty 
thousand of these peaceful invaders was made upon them. 
In the course of subsequent years, the expulsion of the fugi- 
tives was frequently demanded by the Burmese government, 
and invariably refused by the English. This refusal, in the 
year 1828, led to hostilities on the part of the king of Ava, 
the ruler of the Burmese Empire, which precipitated war. 

Neither party had sufficiently counted the cost of th's 
36* 



426 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

undertaking. The vain-glorious king of Ava, ever the con- 
queror in his wars with surrounding states, doubted not of 
victory over the English, — and on one occasion even provided 
golden fetters, with which to bind the Governor-General of 
India. The English, on their part, had not fully considered 
the nature of the contest, — carried on amid swamps and jun- 
gles and dense forests, under the burning sun of Birmah, and 
against almost innumerable foes, intrenched behind stockades 
of the nearly impervious teak-wood. The natives, moreover, 
were animated by a tradition that their capital would remain 
invincible till a "magical vessel should advance against it 
without oars or sails." 
18a4 In the end British perseverance ana valor tri- 
to umphed. The two important towns of Kangoon and 
Prome were taken, and Sir Archibald Campbell, 
advancing within forty miles of the capital, gained such deci- 
sive victories, that the Burmese government were glad to sue 
for peace. Nor were the conditions of the native prophecy 
wholly unfulfilled. With the reinforcements sent from Hin- 
dostan, came the war-steamer Diana, u the magical vessel 
without oars or sails," which aided greatly to secure victory to 
the conqueror. By the terms of the treaty, which was con- 
cluded in February of 1826, the king of Ava paid a million 
pounds towards the expenses of the war, and ceded to the 
English the provinces which they had conquered. 

Whilst the hostilities with Birmah were in progress, an 
event occurred in Hindostan which tended greatly to confirm 
the power of the British there. This was the capture of 
Bhurtpore, a fortress north of the river Ganges, near Agra, 
considered the most impregnable in India. The nation 
believed that " it was destined never to be taken, and that 
against its ramparts the tide of British invasion would beat in 
vain." In the summer of 1823 the rajah of Bhurtpore died, 
and a usurper claimed the throne. The English espoused 
the cause of the rightful successor, but the usurping rajah, 
confiding in the strength of his fortress, and encouraged by 
the host of discontented spirits who flocked to him from all 



INDIA. 427 

parts of India, determined to defy the hitherto invincible 
power of the conquerors. Lord Cornbermere was sent against 
Bhurtpore. Mines were rim under the strong fortress, and 
on the 18tji of January, 1826, the assault was made. The 
mines were sprung with fearful effect; and the breaches were 
stormed and carried with desperate bravery. " The bulwark 
of Hindostan" was won, " and the halo of invincibility again 
settled round the brows of the victors." During Lord Am- 
herst's administration, Malacca, Singapore, and other 
Dutch possessions in India were ceded to the British 
government by the king of the Netherlands. 

After the fall of Bhurtpore, the Directors of the East India 
Company became more stringent than ever in requiring of 
their governors-general the strict pursuance of a pacific policy 
towards the native states. They deprecated the expense of 
wars and subsidiary alliances. The army was greatly reduced, 
and changes made which tended to lessen both its strength 
and its efficiency. 

Meanwhile danger threatened from the north. Kussia, in 
her march of conquest, had humbled Persia, and now menaced 
the English possessions in India. The wild mountain regions 
of Afghanistan presented the only remaining barrier to the 
aggressions of the czar. 

With the design of establishing in that country a power, 
which, owing its elevation and support to the English, would 
remain faithful to them, the Indian government deposed Dost 
Mohammed, and placed Shah Soojah upon the throne. Dost 
Mohammed, though an usurper, was an able and efficient 
prince, and extremely popular with his subjects. Shah 
Soojah was a weak and cruel tyrant, and as much detested as 
his rival was beloved. 

To conduct the new Shah to his throne, two large European 
forces made a long and perilous march through the Bolan 
and Khyber passes — terrific defiles in the mountains which 
separate Afghanistan from India. In August of 1839, the 
English, with their puppet sovereign, arrived at Cabul. Their 
advance had been victorious. They had captured the far- 



428 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

famed fortress of Ghizni, which lies to the south-west of 
Cabul. 

During the approach to Ghizni, an act of barbarity was 
committed, which displayed the ferocious character of the 
sovereign whom the British sought to invest with power. 
The Ghazees, a fanatic sect of Mohammedans, instigated by 
their priests, had fallen upon the invading army. They were 
defeated, and the captured, fifty in number, brought into the 
presence of Shah-Soojah. Bold with the fearlessness of fana- 
ticism, they reviled the king to his face, and one of them 
attacked an attendant in the royal presence. Upon this the 
Shah gave an order for the massacre of them all, and himself 
witnessed the execution of the dreadful deed. 

" This atrocious massacre," says Alison, " was never forgotten 
in Afghanistan j it increased the indisposition of the people to 
receive the sovereign sought to be forced upon them, and led 
to an awful retribution, when the Afghans got the upper hand, 
and the wild cry of the Ghazees was heard in the Coord Cabul 
pass." 

Dost Mohammed fled to the solitudes of the Hindoo-Koosh. 
He had exhibited the conduct of a hero. Commanding the 
timid and the irresolute to leave his ranks, he endeavored to 
rally the true believers around the standard of their religion. 
But the coward, traitorous Asiatics were overawed by the 
English bayonets. They refused his earnest appeal to stand 
by him in one last charge against the invaders, in which 
onset he had resolved to die, leaving them, his followers, free 
to make their own terms with his successful rival. 

The conquerors entered the capital; and, accompanied by a 
magnificent retinue, Shah-Soojah was reinstated in his strong- 
guarded palace in the citadel of Bala-Hissar. At the close 
of the year a portion of the army returned to India, leaving 
garrisons at Cabul, Ghizni, Candahar, and Jellalabad. 

So prosperous seemed the issue of the expedition, so agree- 
able the life of the officers in Cabul, that they sent for their 
families to join them, and had not a thought of clanger. But 
perils of the most fearful kind were gathering around them. 



INDIA. 429 

The hatred of the Afghans towards the Shah and his English 

1839 su PP orters was intense, and during the two following 

to years the troops were constantly engaged in putting 

1 ' down disaffection among the native tribes. The 

English were more than a thousand miles away from their 

strongholds in India, and in the midst of a country where 

treachery and enmity surrounded them on every side 

And yet so great was their confidence in British power and 
prestige, that it blinded them to their danger. Even when 
insurrection was rife around them, the general stationed his 
men in cantonments outside of the walls, instead of concen- 
trating them in the impregnable fortress of the Bala-Hissar. 
"On the night of the 2d of November, 1841, the storm which 
had been so long gathering, burst upon the heads of this 
infatuated garrison. The houses of the English officers were 
first attacked, many were put to death, the guard of Sepoys, 
twenty-eight in number, were massacred, and all the horrors 
of plunder and murder were enacted. The terrified English 
hoped in vain for aid from Jellalabad and Candahar. At 
those distant points, General Nott and Sir Robert Sale were 
holding out against the enemy. At length, after a defence 
of forty days' duration, the English garrison at Gabul was 
forced to conclude a treaty, by which they agreed to abandon 
Afghanistan, and restore Dost Mohammed to the throne. 
On the 6th of January, the" festival of the Epiphany, began 
that fearful, fatal retreat. Far and wide spread a deep 
covering of snow; the intense cold defied the warmest 
clothing; their way lay through the Coord Cabul pass, a 
narrow, deep defile, five miles in length, and the bed of a 
mountain torrent, which had twenty-eight times to be crossed 
in the descent. Hostile Afghans, from the precipices over- 
head, fired down upon the defenceless fugitives; the edges 
of the waterfall were so coated with ice, that no secure 
'footing could be found for the beasts of burden. The few 
who emerged alive from this fearful defile, continued their 
march over the table-land. Here fresh perils awaited them. 
Many perished from hunger, cold, and disease, others fell by 



4oO HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the swords of the Afghans, and of the seventeen thousand 
souls who had started from Cabul, but one man reached 
Jellalabad alive, to tell the mournful tale. Intense was the 
mingled feeling of horror and grief which thrilled every heart, 
when the news of this catastrophe spread over India. Fear- 
ful was the anxiety for those who were left still exposed in 
that wild hostile country. There was the little garrison under 
Sir Robert Sale in the unprotected fortress of Jellalabad. 

At Candahar, in an equally perilous position, was the force 
under General Nott. And more terrible still, was the dreadful 
uncertainty as to the fate of Lady Sale and the captive women 
who had been carried off by the Afghan chiefs, after emerging 
from the horrors of the frightful Coord Cabul pass. These 
anxieties were greatly heightened by the effect which the 
recent disaster had produced on the vain-glorious, treacherous 
natives of India. The Mohammedans especially, hated those 
who maintained supremacy in the country which had so long 
owned the Moslem's sway, and, elated by this check to British 
power, they conceived the hope of a general rising, in which 
Hindoo and Moslem should unite to expel the hated conqueror. 

Never had British power in India been so fearfully im- 
perilled, and never were the energies of the Anglo-Saxon 
more thoroughly aroused, or more efficiently put forth to meet 
the danger. First the beleaguered garrisons must be relieved. 
We cannot dwell upon the incidents which followed. The 
noble heroism on the part of the stout-hearted few who held 
the fortresses against such fierce and fearful numbers, nor the 
bravery of those who, for their relief, scaled the frightful 
mountain-passes swarming with foes. At length, after months 
of agonizing suspense on the one side, and hard conflict on the 
other, these brave garrisons were relieved, and from Candahar 
and Jellalabad, the latter station being seventy-eight miles 
east of Cabul, English troops moved towards that place. On 
the 7th September, 1842, the division under General Pollock, 
from Jellalabad, began their march 

The route lay through the terrible Coord Cabul pass, literally 
strewed and lined with the skeletons and bones of the thou- 



INDIA. 431 

sands of their fellow-soldiers who had perished in the massacre 
of the preceding winter. They could not tread but on the 
bones of their fallen comrades. The entrance of the pass was 
disputed by the fierce and confident Afghans, but they were 
driven from their heights by the intrepid onset of the British, 
and the soldiers entered the fearful defile, their feelings roused 
to the highest pitch as at every step they encountered the 
remains of their murdered countrymen. On the 15th they 
entered Cabul, and from the fortress of the Bala-IIissar soon 
floated the British flag ; and whilst salutes of artillery thun- 
dered from the battlements, the bands of the several regi- 
ments played the national anthem, and cheers of exultation 
resounded from the whole army. Fifteen thousand troops 
united at Cabul were enough to strike terror into the Aighans, 
and their chiefs hastened to tender their submission. The 
king whom the British had attempted to place on the throne 
had been murdered. The Afghans had been punished for 
their treachery and cruelty, and now it was determined by 
the government to abandon the country, release Dost Mo- 
hammed, and leave Afghanistan to the sovereign of its 
choice. 

One duty more remained before they should abandon this 
fatal country — the rescue of Lady Sale and the captive women 
who had been seized during the retreat from Cabul. They 
had been carried to the mountain regions of Afghanistan, 
towards the Hindoo Koosh. They were not treated harshly, 
but suffered great anxiety concerning the husbands, fathers, 
and brothers, whom they had left in the hostile country. 
They knew not of the victories there achieved, but when 
intelligence of these reached their gaolers, the latter prepared 
to send their captives across the mountains to be sold for 
slaves in Turkestan. From this horrible fate they were saved 
by the approach of an English force for their relief. 

Questions. — Describe the power of the Mahrattas. — By whom 
and in what battles were they defeated? — What motives induced the 
English to treat with them favorably ? — Relate the result of this 



432 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

conduct. — Give the account of the Ghoorka war. — Describe the Pi.i- 
darrees. — Relate the account of their destruction. — Mention the 
circumstances which led to the Burmese war. — What difficulties did 
the English encounter during this contest? — What was the result of 
it. — Repeat the account given of Bhurtpore, and of its capture. — 
What policy animated the East India Company ? 

What danger threatened the English possessions in India ? — How 
did the Indian government seek to avert this danger? — Relate the 
account given of the expedition to Cabul. — What was the result of 
this expedition? — Describe the retreat through the Coord Cabul 
pass. — Relate the eifect of this disaster upon the natives. — Mention 
the efforts made for the defence and relief of the beleaguered garri- 
sons. — Describe the passage of General Pollock's army to Cabul. — 
Relate the account given of Lady Sale and the captives. 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

INDIA. 

WAR WITH SINDE — GWALIOR — SIKH CONFEDERACY — BURMESE WAR — AN- 
NEXATION OP OUDE — THE INDIAN MUTINY. 

The fruitless and fatal invasion of Afghanistan led to an- 
other war and another conquest. A portion of the English 
troops on their way to Cabul, marched through Sinde, a rich 
territory bordering the lower course of the river Indus. The 
country was governed by a body of nobles called Ameers, who 
were jealous of the encroachments of British power. When 
the first English vessel ascended the Indus, they exclaimed : 
" Alas ! Sinde is gone j the English have seen the river." 

Nor were their fears groundless. The English, covetous 
of the advantages which the control of this province would 
afford, forced treaties peculiarly advantageous to themselves, 
upon the unwilling Ameers. The government of Sinde 
showed no disposition to observe these treaties, and Sir 
Charles Napier was sent to reduce them to submission. Two 
important victories achieved the conquest of the province, 
and Sinde -was annexed to the British dominions. The 



INDIA. 433 

Ameers, like all the native rulers of India, had exercised 
tyranny and cruel oppression towards their subjects. The 
removal of the military despotism under which they had so 
long suffered, was a great blessing to the native peasantry. 
They welcomed English rule, and afterwards proved their 
appreciation of its value, when, during the terrible rebellion 
of 1857, they remained faithful to the government. 

To the north of Sinde lies a district called the Punjaub, 
u the country of five rivers," which was held in subjection by 
a brave, well-organized confederacy, known as the Sikhs. 
They were originally a religious sect, founded about the end 
of the fifteenth century, by a Hindoo named Nanik. The 
word Sikh means disciple. Under a powerful chief, Runjeet 
Singh, surnamed " the lion of the Punjaub/ ' they had, about 
the beginning of the present century, grown into a powerful 
nation. Runjeet Singh maintained friendly relations with 
the English, but after his death, a decidedly hostile feeling, 
especially in the army, which numbered seventy-three thou- 
sand regular, well-disciplined soldiers, manifested itself to- 
wards the government at Calcutta. This was encouraged by 
the fearful disaster in Afghanistan, and the Governor-General 
foresaw that war with the Sikhs was an impending evil. 

Another native province, that of Gwalior, in Central Hin- 
dostan, contained a party adverse to the English. This state 
lay in a position which would enable it to do much mischief 
as an enemy, in case of war with the Sikhs. It was there- 
fore of the first importance, before engaging in hostilities with 
that powerful confederacy, to secure Gwalior. Under pretext 
of quelling the disorders and disturbances prevailing there, the 
English forces, under Sir Hugh Gough and Major General 
Grey, entered the country, and after two hard-fought battles. 
Won by the British troops, the government of Gwalior solicited 
peace. A treaty was concluded, by the terms of which, those 
persons who were in the British interest were to be restored 
to power, and a contingent of seven regiments of infantry and 
two of cavalry were to be furnished and maintained by the 
Gwalior government in the service of the East India Company. 
37 2E 



434 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

War in the Punjaub began on the 24th of November, 
1845. On that day two brigades of Sikh soldiery, believing 
that the English would not dare to face their formidable 
battalions, rushed down from Lahore, crossed the river Sutlej, 
the eastern boundary of their country, and burst upon the 
Company's territories. The remainder of the Sikh army 
followed the evil example, and crossed the river on the 12th 
of the following month. 

The Governor-General, Lord Hardinge, and Sir Hugh 
Gough marched into the hostile country. At the end of 
sixty days, after four pitched battles, fought against the 
bravest of Asia's armies, the power of the English triumphed, 
and a treaty was entered into, by which a large tract of 
country was surrendered to the British, and one million and 
a half pounds paid to that government as indemnity for the 
expenses of the war. 

The martial spirit of the Sikhs was not yet subdued. Two 
years later there was a general uprising in the Punjaub, to 
drive the British from the country, and recover its inde- 
pendence. Again Lord Gough marched thither, and again 
encountered the desperate valor of the Sikh soldiery. At 
length, on the 21st of February, 1849, a great victory gained at 
Goojerat, and the surrender of Mooltan, one of the strongest 
of the Sikh fortresses, decided the contest. To prevent fur- 
ther aggression on the part of this warlike nation, the whole 
of the Punjaub, the most powerful native kingdom in the 
land, was incorporated with the British dominions. These 
once formidable enemies became the most faithful of subjects, 
and during the terrible revolt of 1857, the receutly-conquered 
Punjaub was, under the wise and Christian rule of Sir John 
Lawrence, a tower of strength to the British empire in India, 
1847 ^° k° rc * Hardinge, who returned to England before 

and the final conquest of the Sikhs, succeeded Lord Dal- 

housie. During his administration occurred another 

war with Birmah, brought on by a violation on the part of 

the Burmese, of the treaty of 1826. The result of the contest 

obtained for the English the acquisition of the valuable pro- 



INDIA. 435 

vince of Pegu, as well as the possession of Rangoon and other 
important towns commanding the entrance to the Irrawaddy. 
These advantages were secured to the English by the treaty 
made with the king of Birmah in June, 1853. 

By the year 1856 the disorders and misery which prevailed 
in the native kingdom of Oude, had risen to such a height, 
that the unhappy people begged to be rescued from the cruel 
tyranny of their rulers, and placed under British protection. 
As no redress for these Wrongs could be obtained from the 
king of Oude, his dominions were declared to be henceforth 
annexed to those of the East India Company. This was done 
by a simple proclamation of the governor-general, issued on 
the 14th of February, 1856. 

One hundred years had passed away, since, in January of 
1757, Clive had laid the foundations of the Anglo-Indian 
Empire. By the victories of subsequent generals, and the 
wisdom of subsequent rulers, it had risen to a proud height 
of prosperity Its territory spread" over an area of nearly a 
million and a half of square miles, " and within that vast 
country there existed not a chief or sovereign, a state, a 
people or tribe, which was not subject to the English in 
dependence or alliance." The population thus controlled is 
estimated to exceed one hundred and eighty millions of souls. 

Among these were several millions of fierce, restless Mus- 
sulmans, who added to their hatred against all unbelievers, a 
peculiar enmity towards the English conquerors. For half a 
century the prophecy had been current in the land, that the 
Christian rule of the " Feringhee," as the natives term the 
English, was destined by Allah to endure but a hundred 
years ; — and now the centennary of the battle of Plassey drew 
on. Animated by a superstitious hope, the Mohammedan 
princes set themselves to accomplish, if possible, the fulfil- 
ment of this prophecy. 

Long years of prosperity had induced a sense of security 
and confidence in the government of British India. The 
European army was small. The battalion of Sepoys raised 
by Clive in January of 1757, and officered by a handful of 



430 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

Englishmen, had now grown into the Bengal Native Army, 
numbering upwards of a hundred and fifty thousand men, 
and far exceeding the European forces throughout the entire 
country. The troops were composed of Mussulmans and 
Hindoos. The former were ripe for revolt, and nothing was 
needed for their purpose, but to awaken in the Hindoo a 
spirit which would secure his co-operation. 

This was effected by working upon the peculiar prejudices, 
both religious and social, of the Sepoy. A new weapon, the 
Enfield rifle, was about being introduced into the service, and 
with it a new cartridge. The Mussulmans spread a report 
that the new-fashioned cartridges were greased with the fat 
of cows — animals especially sacred in the eyes of the worship- 
pers of Brahma. To touch or taste the fat of animals incurs 
defilement to the Hindoo, and consequent loss of caste, a 
calamity regarded by the natives of India as the greatest 
which could befall them. 

England had not stood out as a Christian government 
before the millions of her Indian subjects. Fearful of of- 
fending their religious prejudices, she had pandered to those 
prejudices, and withholding from them the knowledge of true 
Christianity, had left them to judge of it by their own low 
ideas of religion. Consequently, the native believed it to be 
a something which was contagious, and feared that by contact 
with Christians and Christian substances, he might thereby 
be entrapped into Christianity. 

The Mussulman instigators of the rebellion therefore as- 
serted, that it was the design of the English to cause the 
Sepoys to lose caste by biting the cartridge, and having 
effected this, to compel them by force to embrace Christianity 
Fearfully fatal was the success of these appeals to the cre- 
dulity, ignorance, and religious fanaticism of the Hindoo. 
During the winter, disaffection in consequence of the intro- 
duction of the new cartridge was observed in some of the 
stations in the neighborhood of Calcutta. Every 
effort was made to allay the unfounded and unwar- 
rantable fears of the Sepoys. One regiment, which had 



INDIA. 437 

openly refused to receive the cartridges, was disbanded, and 
it was hoped that this warning would intimidate others. 

When an example had thus been made of the mutineers, 
the manufacture of the obnoxious cartridge was carefully and 
clearly explained by the commanding officers at the head of 
the several native regiments, and in the general orders read 
to each company in the service, the most explicit assurances 
of protection to religious scruples were given. It was believed 
that disaffection was at an end, when suddenly, fearfully, like 
a whirlwind from the south, the storm burst forth in another 
quarter. Anarchy spread its tempestoving over the land, and 
for a time English dominion gave way before it. 

At Delhi, the ancient capital of the Mohammedan power 
in India, still resided the descendant of the G-reat Mogul. 
Deprived of power, but surrounded by pomp and splendor, 
he was allowed " to play at being a sovereign" by the real 
masters of the country. On the ruins of the old, a new Delhi 
had been built by the English. It was strongly fortified by 
British engineers, contained an arsenal adequate to the supply 
of the Indian army, and also a vast amount of treasure. In 
deference to Mussulman feelings, the custody of this import- 
ant fortress and station was confided to a native garrison, 
consisting at this time of three regiments of Bengal Sepoys 
and an artillery company. 

Forty miles north-east of Delhi was the large military 
cantonment of Meerut. It was at this place that on the 
evening of Sunday, the 10th of May, began a mutiny, the 
fearful atrocities of which have thrilled with horror the whole 
civilized world. It was the uprising of fiends, rather than 
of beings endued with human feelings and affections. The 
annals of revolt, bloodshed, and massacre, can present no' 
parallel to the deeds perpetrated by these Indian Sepoys 
against defenceless women and children — against friends and 
benefactors. " Dark as the world's history is with crime and 
woe, they have made it darker still." 

After finishing the dreadful work of massacre at Meerut, 
setting fire to the European bungalows, and liberating from 
37* 



438 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

the gaol twelve hundred prisoners, the mutineers took the 
road to Delhi. There they were joined by the whole of the 
native regiments, who added to the atrocity of their conduct 
by permitting, and in some instances joining in the massacre 
of their officers. Within the devoted city, every European 
resident, whom the mutinous rabble could find, was killed. 
Plunder accompanied murder. The government treasure was 
seized. The magazine, however, by the heroism of Lieu- 
tenant Willoughby, who had charge of it, was blown up. and 
it is estimated that from fifteen hundred to ^two thousand of 
the rebels were involved in the destruction. 

The king of Delhi was proclaimed emperor, and united in 
this fearful treachery. Helpless women and children fled to 
him for protection. He delivered them to the mercies of 
infuriated Sepoys, to endure at their hands tortures and 
death, and outrages worse than death. 

When the tidings of the outbreak reached the commander- 
in-chief of the Bengal army, as large a force as could be 
assembled, was put in motion for Delhi. By the 8th of June, 
six thousand troops appeared before the town, drove the rebels 
from their outposts, and only awaited the arrival of a proper 
siege-battery, to make the assault. By August, the numbers 
within Delhi amounted to thirty thousand. They hadr two 
hundred guns, with abundant stores of arms and ammunition, 
and were intrenched within barricaded streets and buildings 
well provided for defence. 

During that long and trying summer the besiegers were 
constantly engaged in repelling sorties made upon them from 
the town. By the 6th of September the siege-train and 
reinforcements arrived at the camp, and active operations 
for the attack at once commenced. At four o'clock on the 
morning of the 14th, four columns advanced to the assault. 
The strong defence of the Cashmere Gate was blown open. 
Through it, and the breaches simultaneously made by the 
other columns, the English with a cheer and a rush sprang 
into the town. Every building was fought for,, and the 
storming of Delhi cost the lives of one-third of the brave 



INDIA. 439 

troops engaged in it. By the 20th, the headquarters of the 
conquerors were established in the ancient palace of the 
Great Mogul. The traitor king had fled, but he was over- 
taken six miles from the city by Lieutenant Hodson, to whom 
he surrendered on promise of his life being spared. He was 
subsequently tried, and received sentence of transportation. 
In December of 1858, this last descendant of the once power- 
ful dynasty of Mohammedan sovereigns was conveyed to a 
desolate station in Birmah ; some three hundred miles inland 
from Rangoon. 

Whilst the transactions already recorded were taking place 
at Delhi, the whole of north-western and central India was in 
revolt. Christian men and women were murdered, tortured, 
and mutilated, on every road and in every village throughout 
the land. Pre-eminent in horror where all is horrible, stands 
forth in this history of crime and blood, the massacre of 
Cawnpore. 

This station, situated on the Ganges, in the upper 
province of Bengal, was garrisoned at the time of the 
outbreak by General Sir Hugh "Wheeler, with a very small 
detachment of Europeans. He had in fact only two hundred 
and forty men, whilst the mutinous troops amounted to four 
thousand. The disaffection which had manifested itself for 
some weeks previous, broke out into open mutiny on the 4th 
of June. A Mahratta prince of wealth and influence, known 
as the Nana Sahib, resided at Bithoor, about twelve miles 
from Cawnpore. To him had been intrusted the charge of 
the Company's treasure. No sooner had the mutiny begun, 
.than the guard appointed by him for its protection, seized the 
treasure, and marching to Bithoor, placed themselves under 
the command of this treacherous rajah. 

Cawnpore being built on a level plain, there was no fort or 
place of refuge to which the English residents might flee. 
To supply this pressing want, Sir Hugh Wheeler selected a 
group of low buildings, fortified them as well as he was able, 
and surrounded the whole by an intrenchment. Within this 
he collected all the European population, amounting, at the 



440 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

time of the outbreak, to some eight hundred and seventy 
persons. 

For twenty- two days this devoted band held out against 
attacks from every quarter. Night and day, twelve pieces of 
ordnance played upon their exposed defences To add to 
their calamities, the hospital took fire, from the red-hot shot 
of the enemy, and forty invalids perished in the flames. The 
walls of the buildings were battered and riddled with cannon 
shot ) the feeble garrison had been reduced by more than one 
hundred deaths since they entered the intrenchment, and yet 
those coward Sepoys, now numbering twelve thousand men, 
dared not attack in their position this, handful of defenceless 
Europeans 

At length, on the 26th of June, Sir Hugh Wheeler, seeing 
nothing in a further resistance but certain death for the few 
survivors of his gallant band, surrendered to the Nana Sahib 
He did so on a solemn promise from the rajah, ratified by the 
oath held most sacred among the whole Hindoo race, that the 
lives of the Europeans and native converts should be spared, 
and a safe passage furnishe'd them down the Ganges to Alla- 
habad. On the 27th, the little party entered the boats pro- 
vided by the Nana Sahib. No sooner was the embarkation 
complete, than, from guns which had been masked near the 
ghat, or landing-place, a deadly fire was opened upon the 
wretched fugitives. Many were shot down in the boats, — 
others were drowned. Volleys of musketry poured upon 
them from either bank of the river. "The boats were seized 
and brought back. The men within them were all put to 
the sword. The helpless women and children were reserved 
for a fate still more terrible. 

On the 16th July, General Havelock, advancing from 
Allahabad for the relief of Cawnpore, inflicted a severe defeat 
upon the rebels. That night the English forces bivouacked 
before the town. Each heart beat high with hope of the 
rescue they were to effect on the morrow. When day came, 
they entered the town. With eager steps they pressed to- 
wards the prison-house of the captive women and children. 



INDIA. 441 

Alas ! they found there nothing that had life ; — nothing but 
the traces of a fearful savage massacre. A well in which lay 
festering the mangled bodies of two hundred and eight wives, 
mothers, and daughters, — a row of little children's shoes, and 
in them bleeding amputated feet; — the gory and tangled 
tresses of woman's hair, — these were the sights which met 
the gaze, and froze with horror the very life-blood of the 
deliverers of Cawnpore. One being alone survived this mas- 
sacre, which was ordered by the Nana Sahib, the day on 
which he heard of Havelock's victorious approach. 

One more instance of suffering and heroism, and we will 
turn from these heart-sickening details of the Indian mutiny. 
Lucknow was the capital of the' recently-annexed kingdom 
of Oude. There, when rebellion was rife around him, Sir 
Henry Lawrence gathered the European population within 
the Ilesidency The Residency of Lucknow was in itself a 
small town, containing buildings, courts, walls, and improvised 
earth-works and defences of various kinds. Within this en- 
closure, a little band of Europeans, their perils increasing and 
their resources diminishing every hour, repelled for three long 
months the assaults of the fiend-like enemy, who outnumbered 
them by thousands. Thus they stood, an isolated stronghold 
in that surging sea of insurrection, until the hour of relief 
drew on. The noble Sir Henry Lawrence, whose name is 
one of the brightest in the annals of Christian heroism, was 
killed on the second day of the siege, by the bursting of a 
shell, in the apartment where he was resting after hours of 
severe and exhausting labor. 

To raise the siege of Lucknow, General Havelock began 
his march on the 21st of July, immediately after the capture 
of Cawnpore. Compared to the swarming rebels, for from 
the province of Oude was drawn the greater proportion of 
the Bengal Sepoys, the army of Havelock was but a handful. 
These troops had to fight their way " step by step through a 
country whose entire population was in arms against them, 
and whose every town, village, and house even, had been 
converted into a fortress, only to be reduced by blood and 



442 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

toil." Disease, engendered by the pestilent jungle, thinned 
their ranks The bridges over the swollen rivers and streams 
had been destroyed, and on the opposite banks hosts of armed 
rebels, strongly intrenched, and well supplied with artillery, 
opposed their progress. 

Within thirty-seven days, Havelock had fought and won 
ten pitched battles, against overwhelming numbers ; but, to 
quote the simple statement of one of his officers, "We found 
that it was impossible for us to proceed on to Lucknow, on 
account of our army being so small; for though we are a 
brave little band, and could easily fight our way thither, yet 
we could not compel them to raise the siege when we got 
there, as we should have no men to do it with." 

On the 17th of September, General Havelock's little army 
of seven hundred men was reinforced by General Sir James 
Outram, and the united forces, twenty-five hundred strong, 
pushed on for the relief of the beleaguered town. On the 
evening of the 25th, they reached Lucknow, the Residency 
was relieved, and for a moment the waves of rebellion were 
parted. But they quickly closed in again. The city was 
still in the hands of the enemy. Nearly one-third of Have- 
lock's army had been killed. The rescuers had in their turn 
become the besieged, and now began a second defence, as 
full of patient endurance and heroism as the former one had 
been. 

The second relief of Lucknow was accomplished by Sir 
Colin Campbell, on the afternoon of the 17th of November. 
A few days later, the noble Christian soldier, Sir Henry 
Havelock, overcome by the severe and protracted exertions 
of the last few months, closed his victorious career. 

As it was impossible to hold with a small force a city 
swarming with fifty thousand rebels, the commander-in-chief 
determined to withdraw every European resident. The women 
'and children, that remnant who had outlived the horrors of 
two sieges, were sent to Cawnpore, and finally to Calcutta, 
where early in the following year they were received with 
feelings of the profounclest emotion, by the entire city. 



INDIA. 443 

Troops under General Outram were left in a fortified position 
known as the Alumbagh, about four miles from Lucknow. 
In March of 1858, Lucknow was finally captured by Sir Colin 
Campbell, and the supremacy of the English firmly re-estab- 
lished in Oude. By the summer of that year, the strength 
of the rebellion in every province had been broken. A 
writer, alluding to the anniversary of the battle of Plassey, on 
the 23d of June, 1858, says: "India is ours to-day, — ay, 
more firmly and more enduringly ours than ever it was since 
its fetters were forged on the plains of Plassey." 

With the suppression of the mutiny came a great political 
change — the extinction of the rule of the East India Com- 
pany By a legislative and royal act passed on the 2d of 
August, 1858, the government of the English possessions in 
India was transferred to the crown. 

"The Company of Merchant Adventurers trading to the 
East Indies," had founded there a magnificent empire. Wher- 
ever its rule extended, native anarchy and misery fled before 
it, and protection for life and property took their place. The 
East India Company had established railways, roads, canals, 
telegraphs, colleges, and village schools throughout India. 
By them not only had the blessings of civilization been con- 
ferred upon the land, but greater, nobler things had been 
achieved — triumphs over which both Christianity and hu- 
manity rejoice. 

Between the years 1831-1835, during the administration 
of Sir William Bentinck, the horrible crime of Thuggee was 
detected and prevented. The Thugs were a tribe of heredi- 
tary thieves and murderers, who, under the protection, as they 
claimed, and in order to propitiate a heathen goddess, roved 
through the land to rob and murder the unwary traveller. 
With a strip of cloth or an unfolded turban they strangled 
the victim of this horrid sacrifice. So great was their skill 
and dexterity in eluding detection, that, although hundreds 
and thousands perished yearly under their hands, none knew 
where or how the crime had been committed. After more 



444 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



than two thousand Thugs had been seized, and executed, or 
otherwise punished, the confederacy was entirely broken up. 

By the humane efforts of the Company, the crime of in- 
fanticide had been suppressed. Suttee, or the burning of the 
widow on the funeral pile of a deceased husband, had been 
abolished, and the cruel, merciless sacrifices before the car 
of the demon idol of Juggernaut, had been abandoned. Such 
blessings bestowed by the East India Company upon its sub- 
jects, may well constitute her proudest x monument as she 
points to the history of the past. 

Questions. — Relate the circumstances and motives -which led to 
the war with Sinde. — State the result of this war. — Describe the 
effect of the English rule. — Give the history of the Sikh confede- 
racy. — Relate the circumstances and motives which led to a war 
with Gwalior. — State the result of this war. — What action precipi- 
tated war with the Sikhs? — Mention the results of the first cam- 
paign. — How was war renewed? — State the final result of the con- 
test. — Relate the brief account of the second Burmese war. 

"What circumstances induced the annexation of Oude ? — What was 
the extent of the English dominion in India? — By what feelings was 
the Mussulman population animated ? — What was the condition of 
the European force in India in 1857? — Where did disaffection first 
manifest itself? — How was it treated? — Describe the position of 
Delhi. — When and where did the mutiny break out? — Describe the 
conduct of the mutineers at Delhi. — Describe the siege and capture 
of that city. — Describe the state of other parts of the country. 

Give the history of the transactions at Cawnpore during June and 
July, 1857. — Relate the account given of the defence and relief of 
Lucknow. — What was the position of the English in the summer of 
1858? — What great political change followed the mutiny? — What 
benefits were conferred upon India by the rule of the East India 
Company ? 



THE ENGLISH. IN CHINA. 445 



CHAPTER LXX. 

THE ENGLISH IN CHINA. 

EMBASSIES TO CHINA — COMMERCIAL RELATIONS — WAR OF 1842. 

As early as the year 1792, an attempt was made by Eng- 
land to induce the Chinese to abandon the exclusive policy 
which prohibited foreigners access to that empire. 

Lord Macartney was sent with an embassy for that purpose, 
but was unable to effect any change in the opinions of the 
Chinese, who doubtless were aware of the results of British 
influence in Hindostan, and deprecated its admission into the 
Celestial Empire. Lord Macartney was forced to leave Pekin 
in 1793. 

In 1816, Lord Amherst went to China with the same 
object in view, but having given offence to the emperor, in 
the course of his residence there, he failed as signally as Lord 
Macartney had done. 

The Chinese were willing to carry on commercial trans- 
actions, but desired their relations with foreigners to be con- 
fined solely to those of trade. The East India Company, 
yielding to these views, carried on for many years a profitable 
commercial intercourse with that country. By caution, con- 
cessions, and bribes, the servants of the Company either 
avoided or quickly healed the disputes to which they were 
occasionally liable from the jealousy this singular people 
entertain towards foreigners. This policy, however, had 
unhappily given to the Chinese the impression that the 
English were merely a money-loving people, and would sub- 
mit to any indignity, rather than lose the profits arising from 
their trade with the Celestial Empire. 

In the year 1833 an act was passed in the British parlia- 
ment, throwing open the China trade to'all English merchants. 
A commissioner was to superintend their commercial interests 



446 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

in that country. Lord Napier was the first person sent out 
for that purpose. The Chinese jealousy of foreigners was 
thoroughly roused by these proceedings. They refused Lord 
Napier entrance into Canton, and threatened to stop all 
trade with the English. Lord Napier ordered two vessels to 
ascend the river to Whampoa, his residence outside of Canton, 
for the protection of British merchant vessels there. When 
the two ships, the " Andromache" and " Imogene," in obe- 
dience to this order, attempted to pass the Bocca Tigris, one 
of the principal defences on the river below Canton, they 
received a fire from the Chinese. It inflicted but little 
injury, and having demolished the enemy's batteries, the 
two vessels proceeded to Whampoa. The Chinese viceroy 
then consented to reopen the trade, provided the British 
commissioner would give up his residence at Whampoa, and 
retire to Macao. 

During the years 1835-1836, there was no hostile colli- 
sion between the two nations. The English traders during 
that period, however, were engaged in an unjust and illegal 
traffic, which led to the most disastrous results. In defiance 
of severe imperial edicts, large quantities of opium were 
smuggled by the English into China. This intoxicating 
drug, sought with such passionate avidity by the lower classes 
of the Chinese population, produced the most injurious and 
demoralizing effects. Rigid edicts issued by the emperor, 
forbade the importation of an article so hurtful to the health 
and morals of his subjects. But English traders, because the 
traffic in opium was a source of enormous profit, persisted in 
smuggling this drug into the country ; nor did the British 
government take any measures to prevent this gross and open 
violation of Chinese law. In January, 1839, a Chinese man- 
darin named Lin came to Canton, and at once took vigorous 
measures for putting a stop to this unlawful traffic. He 
demanded that all the opium in the factories should be given 
up, and a bond entered into by the English merchants, pro- 
mising to abandon for the future any attempt to bring opium 
into the country. To enforce his demands, Lin caused all 



THE ENGLISH IN CHINA. 447 

the factories containing this obnoxious drug to be blockaded. 
Thus pressed, the English delivered up the opium, but evaded 
signing the bond. The feelings of both parties, English mer- 
chants and Chinese officials, had now become greatly exaspe- 
rated, and various circumstances tended to increase this. 

In August an affray occurred between some Chinese vil- 
lagers and English sailors, in which one of the former was 
killed The imperial government demanded the surrender 
of the murderer, which was refused The Chinese authorities 
then forbade their people to furnish supplies to the British, 
and moreover began a series of hostile acts which led in the 
course of a few months to actual war. Ships and land forces 
were ordered to the Chinese waters. 

An assault headed by Sir Henry Gough was made 
on Canton, the protecting forts speedily carried, and 
the city itself only saved by the submission of the inhabitants. 
In the north the important towns of Amoy, Chinghae, Ningpo, 
and the valuable island of Chusan, fell before their victorious 
arms. The great blow which terminated the war was struck 
upon the Yang-tse-kiang. This fine river, flowing through the 
empire from west to east, intersects, at the strongly -fortified 
town of Chin-Kiang-Foo, the Grand Imperial Canal. This 
canal, running from north to south, seven hundred miles, 
connects the capital of the Celestial Empire with the southern 
provinces The mouths of the Yang-tse-kiang, or Blue River, 
were strongly defended, and batteries containing no less than 
two hundred and fifty-three guns, frowned down upon the 
invading force. So satisfied were the Chinese of the strength 
of these defences, that they not only permitted, but seemed 
to exult in the close inspection which the British made of 
them, preparatory to opening the attack. This exultation 
was changed into astonishment and fear, when, at the end of 
two days, all their defences were stormed and carried, three 
hundred and sixty-four pieces of cannon captured, and the 
ships of the barbarians anchored before the great city of 
Shanghai. The Chinese government endeavored to stop the 
progress of the English, by offering to enter into treaty with 



448 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

them. But the latter, well aware that this was but an artifice 
to gain time and renewed strength for further resistance, were 
not deterred by it from prosecuting their successes. They 
sailed up the river to Chin-Kiang-Foo. In this city the 
garrison was mainly composed of Tartars, a far braver race 
of soldiers than the natives of southern China. Under an 
intrepid chief, Haeling, they obstinately defended their city. 
It was attacked by three separate columns of the British 
at as many different points, and was won, after a hard 
day's fight, on the 21st July, 1842. This victory, enabling 
the British to cut off from the imperial capital, Pekiu, all 
supplies of grain, for which it was dependent on the southern 
provinces, decided the result of the war. The British fleet 
advanced up the river to the large city of Nankin, once the 
great capital of the empire. This city they were preparing to 
storm, when hostilities were suspended by the intelligence 
that a treaty of peace was negotiating between the English 
commissioner, Sir H. Pottinger, and the Chinese government. 
By this treaty, which was signed on the 29th of August, the 
Chinese agreed to pay a large sum of money to the British 
government, to cede the island of Hong-Kong for ever into 
the hands of the same power, and to open five ports, namely, 
Canton, Amoy, Shanghai, Foo-Choo, and Ningpo, to English 
merchants. 

Questions. — When was Lord Macartney sent to China? — What 
was the object of his mission? — Mention its result. — Give the ac- 
count of Lord Amherst's mission. — What views were held by the 
Chinese regarding intercourse- with foreigners? — Describe the policy 
of the East India Company. — What changes took place in the year 
1833 ? — Relate the causes of the war with China. — Mention the cir- 
cumstances which precipitated hostilities. — Describe the victorious 
career of the British in this war. — When were hostilities terminated? 
— Mention the provisions of the treaty. 



AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND — CAPE COLONY. 449 



CHAPTER LXXI. 

AUSTRALIA — NEW ZEALAND — CAPE COLONY. 

The vast island-continent to which Dutch navigators gave 
the name of New Holland, has received from the English the 
more appropriate designation of Australia. The colonies of 
New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, occupy the 
south-eastern part of the island. The Swan River Settlement 
is in western Australia. " These colonies have an area many 
times the size of the British Islands." 

When the independence of the United States had deprived 
England of h£r American colonies, the proposition was made 
to establish a penal settlement at Botany Bay, on the eastern 
coast of Australia, or New Holland, as the country was then 
called. This colony was founded in the year 1788, not at 
Botany Bay (although that name was for many years applied 
to it), but twelve miles distant, on the shores of Sidney Cove. 
Until the year 1821, this colony, known as New South Wales, 
was only a penal settlement. By convict pioneers the forests 
were cleared, roads and bridges constructed, and all the 
preliminary hard work of colonization effected. 

In the year 1820 free immigration to Australia was en- 
couraged, and a few years later, colonists were pressing 
towards the interior, and settling down upon fertile lands, in 
the midst of their fast-multiplying herds and flocks. The 
twenty-four Merino sheep, purchased by rare favor from the 
flocks of Greorge III., and introduced into Australia in 1803, 
had rapidly increased. The wool sent from this colony to the 
London market, vied with the finest fleeces of Spain and 
Saxony. 

The province now known as Victoria was founded in 1835, 

on the site of its present capital, Melbourne. By the year 

1851 it had grown in wealth and prosperity, and at that date 

was erected into a separate colony. South Australia was first 

38* 2F 



450 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

settled in the year 1836. This colony, composed of free 
settlers, found many difficulties to contend with during its 
early history. These have been gradually overcome, and 
now, the rich copper-mines and fine wheat-fields of South 
Australia bid fair to give it a high rank among the prosperous 
settlements of this region 

' Australia is no longer shunned as the land of the felon. 
Free and industrious immigrants have opened up its rich 
resources as a wheat and wool producing country. The 
forests of New South Wales and Victoria have been converted 
iuto corn-fields, and their mountains and valleys afford pas- 
turage to vast flocks and herds. 

In the year 1851, gold was discovered at Bathurst, in New 
South Wales, and at Ballarat and Mount Alexander, in the 
colony of Victoria. For a time all industrial pursuits were 
abandoned, and one universal mania for gold digging possessed 
the entire population. About the time of the gold discoveries, 
England made Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, the penal 
colony. When the fame of the gold-fields was attracting 
adventurers from every class of society, many of the convicts 
contrived to escape from Van Diemen's Land, and under the 
dreaded name of bush-rangers, rendered themselves, by their 
deeds of murder and robbery, the terror of the country. 

The government of the two gold colonies took active mea- 
sures to put down these marauders. The constabulary forces 
were increased, and their salaries raised. The military were 
called into requisition, and every effort made to prevent the 
demoralizing effects of a sudden revolution upon a community 
hitherto devoted to pastoral pursuits. The success of these 
measures may be inferred from the report of an American 
traveller who visited the gold-fields of Ballarat in 1856. He 
states that the roads, even through unpeopled districts, arc 
rendered safe by a patrol of mounted police. The members 
of this corps are described as large, fine-looking men, mounted 
on noble horses, and armed with a carbine and dragoon sword. 
"The existence of this force," it is further stated, "has spared 
Australia the horrors of lynch law; and prevented a great; 



AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND — CAPE COLONY. 451 

de il of bloodshed, by allowing no weapons to be carried. " 
Even* at the diggings robbery is unknown, " although many 
diggers keep large quantities of gold in their tents." 

Forty years ago Australia was only known as Botany Bay, 
the country of the convict and the outcast. Now the island 
contains several different colonies, and is the home of many 
thousand British subjects. To these (as to all her depend- 
encies save India) Great Britain has accorded the right of 
self-government under free representative assemblies, and 
Australia bids fair to take her place with Europe, Asia, 
Africa, and America, as the fifth grand political division 
of the earth. 

New Zealand received its first European settlement from 
the deserters of whale ships, and a little band of missionaries 
from Australia. As early as the' year 1814, the Rev. Samuel 
Marsden, the colonial chaplain of New South Wales, estab- 
lished in these islands a mission station of the English church. 
This example was followed by the Wesleyans in 1821. The 
labors of the missionaries have met with a success unparalleled 
in the history of modern times. New Zealand, where canni- 
balism existed, and where slavery, polygamy , infanticide, arid 
all the abominations of heathenism prevailed, has become, in 
less than forty years, a civilized and Christian country. 

When the first direct colonization from Great Britain took 
place in New Zealand, which was not until the end of 1839, 
the emigrants found no fewer than twelve stations planted in 
that distant land by the Church Missionary Society. Two 
years later, many of the native chiefs agreed to acknowledge 
the supremacy of the English queen; "giving up," as they 
happily expressed it, " the shadow of the land, but retaining 
the substance." British sovereignty over the isles of New 
Zealand was proclaimed by the lieutenant-governor, Captain 
Hobson, on the 21st of May, 1840. 

At present, the colonial population is small, but the fine 
and healthful climate of these islands, and the high-toned 
moral and social character of the colonists there, will, in time. 



452 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

no doubt render New Zealand one of the most favored of 
England's colonial dependencies. 

Cape Colony, in South Africa, formerly in possession of 
the Dutch, was ceded to Great Britain in 1815. The first 
English settlement established there was made in the year 
1820, by a body of five thousand Scotch emigrants. The 
colonies at the Cape have been greatly harassed at different 
periods, by wars with the fierce Caflrr tribes, and by the 
disaffection of the Boors, as the descendants of the old Dutch 
settlers are called. 

At the close of the last campaign against the Caffirs in 
1852, these hostile tribes were subdued. By the treaty of 
peace which followed, the English have gained a defensive 
frontier, which has never since been disturbed. 

The noble labors of the Scotch missionary and explorer, 
Dr. Livingstone, and of other men of like-minded beneficence, 
are fast opening up the commercial and industrial resources 
of the vast unexplored territory north of this now extended 
colony. The exertions of the intelligent Christian missionary, 
at Cape Colony, at Cape Coast Castle, and at Sierra Leone, 
make these colonies of Great Britain centres from which we 
may hope to see the light of Christianity and civilization 
spread abroad over the benighted land of Africa. 

Questions. — Give the names of the English colonies in Australia. — 
Where and with what object was the earliest settlement founded ? — 
Describe the labors of the early settlers. — Describe the condition 
of New South Wales after free immigration had taken place. — When 
and where was Victoria settled ? — What of the condition of the 
colonies at this time ? — When and where was gold discovered ? — 
Describe the effect of these discoveries upon the condition of the 
colonies. — What was the state of things in 1856? — By whom was 
New Zealand settled ? — Give a sketch of its history. — Relate what is 
told of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 



CANADA. 453 

CHAPTER LXXII 

CANADA. 

EARLY HISTORY — POLITICAL DISCONTENTS — REBELLION — SUBSEQUENT 
HISTORY — CONCLUSION. 

The British possessions in America, including New Bruns- 
wick, Nova Scotia, &c, and thence extending north from the 
river St. Lawrence and the great lakes to the Arctic Ocean, 
comprise a vast area of territory. The greater part of it is 
still the abode of Indian tribes. Here and there among them 
is an English fort or trading settlement. These settlements, 
which number about a hundred, in what is called the Hud- 
son's Bay Territory, are occupied by fur-hunters, or men 
engaged in trading with the Indians for their valuable com- 
modities. 

On the banks of the St. Lawrence and the borders of the 
Great Lakes, lies the large and populous province of Canada. 
This country, discovered and colonized by the French, came 
into possession of the British in the year 1763. It had then 
a population of seventy thousand, nearly all of whom were 
French 

For many years these people were allowed to retain the 
customs .and laws which they had as colonists of France. 
In the year 1791 Canada was divided into two provinces; 
one remaining almost exclusively French, whilst the other 
was assigned more particularly to British residents. After 
the peace of 1815, when emigration from England increased, 
the French in the lower province became alarmed lest their 
French customs and laws should be superseded by the influx 
of English ideas, views, and manners of this new population. 

Nor was this new English emigration better received in the 
upper province. There the old Tory residents wanted to keep 
the rule in their own hands. The government since 1791 had 
been administered by a council appointed by the crown, the 



454 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

members of which held office for life; and an assembly elected 

by the inhabitants under certain property qualifications. On 

the increase of emigration the council became jealous of the 

assembly, and these in turn felt overawed by the 

great power of the upper house, and strife ensued. 

In the lower province, the French population, instigated 
by the radical party in England, demanded political changes 
which should throw a greater amount of power into the hands 
of the people. This alteration in the Canadian constitution 
was refused by the English government, and an insurrection 
followed. It was suppressed in the lower province, without 
great loss of life on either side, by the active measures of the 
governor, in concert with the military. In the upper pro- 
vince, the English population generally were loyal, but there 
was a party of radicals there, who, aided by American sympa- 
thizers, promoted insurrection. The rebels occupied Navy 
Island in the Niagara River, about two miles above the falls. 
They were supplied with ammunition and provisions by a 
little steamer, the " Caroline," which plied between this 
island and the American shore. Colonel McNab, the com- 
mander of the British militia, gave orders to destroy this 
vessel. She was consequently boarded by a strong body of 
militia, who drove away the armed force which guarded her, 
carried the vessel, and after removing the crew, sent her 
drifting in flames over the edge of the mighty cataract. 

When the news of these outbreaks reached England, a 
military force was sent over, and Lord Durham appointed 
governor of the lower province, with very ample powers for 
remodelling the government. On arriving in Canada, Lord 
Durham found a large number of prisoners taken in the late 
insurrections awaiting trial. Knowing that in the excited 
state of public feeling, no juries fairly summoned could be 
found to convict them, the governor used his discretionary 
powers in passing an ordinance, by which the most guilty of 
the prisoners were to be sent to Bermuda, and there await the 
queen's pleasure. Influenced partly by political opposition, 
the English government refused to sanction this ordinance, 



CANADA. 455 

and Lord Durham immediately resigned his office. The 
Bermuda prisoners returned, and, in the autumn of 
1838, stirred up another rebellion. The promptness 
and vigor with which military force was employed at the 
outset, entirely put down this insurrection in both provinces 
in the course of a few weeks. The firmness and moderation 
with which the insurgents were subsequently treated, did 
honor to the British government, whilst it evinced a great 
advance in humanity since the days of the Highland rebel- 
lions, when streams of blood were poured upon the scaffold. 

Lord Sydenham, the successor of Lord Durham, entered 

into the wise and beneficent plans of his predecessor for the 

government of Canada. The two provinces were united in 

one, and under good rule and more liberal institutions 

184:1. 

the country has not only remained tranquil, but has 
exhibited a growth in prosperity almost unparalleled. 

Besides the greater dependencies above enumerated, there 
are many others. Indeed, the power of Great Britain " has," 
to use the language of an eminent American statesman, 
11 dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her posses- 
sions and military posts, — whose morning drum-beat, following 
the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the 
earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial 
airs of England." 

Questions. — Describe the condition of a large portion of British 
America. — Where is the province of Canada situated? — By whom 
was it first settled ? — Describe its condition on becoming an English 
colony. — State the origin of political discontents in the two pro- 
vinces. — Give an account of the insurrections in Canada. — Describe 
the subsequent condition of Canada. — Repeat the concluding remarks 
respecting the extent of England's colonial possessions. 



45(5 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 

ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 



Name. 


Surname. 


Began 

to 
Reign. 


Number 

of 

j Years. 


11th Century. 
William I. . . .. . . 

William II. • . . . . 

12th Century. 

! Henry I 

i Stephen 


The Conqueror . . . 
Rufus 

Beauclerc 


1066 
1087 

1100 
1136 
1154 ' 
1189 

1199 
1216 
1272 

1307 
1327 
1377 

1399 
1413 
1422 
1461 
1483 
1483 
1485 

1509 
1547 
1553 

1558 

1603 
1625 
1649 
1660 
1685 
1688 

1702 
1714 

1727 
1760 

1820 
1830 ' 
1837 


21 
13. 

35 
19 

35 
10 

16 

56 
35 

20 
50 
22 

14 

9 

39 

22 

2 
24 

38 

6 

5 
45 

22 
24 

9 
25 

3 
14 

12 

13 
33 
60 

10 ■ 
7 


Henry II 

Richard I. . . .v. . 

13th Century. 
John 


Plantagenet .... 
Coeur-de-Lion. . . . 


Henry III 




Edward I. . . , . . 




14</a Century. 
Edward II 




Edward III 




Richard II 

Ibth Century. 

Henry IV 

Henry V 


of Bordeaux .... 
of Lancaster .... 


Henry VI 




Edward IV 

Edward V 


of York 


Richard III 

Henry VII 

16th Century. 
Henry VIII 


of Gloucester .... 
Tiidor 


Edward VI 




Mary 




Elizabeth 




James I 

Charles I. .... . 


Stuart ...... 


Cromwell 








James II. ..... 




William III 

i 18^ Century. 
Anne . 


of Orange 


George I. .... . 

George II 


of Hanover 






19th Century. 
George IV 




William IV 




Victoria . . .„ . . 


Guelph 



LRBFe'15 



